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The Maltese Herald

An update on Miriam Dalli’s gas trade

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by

Mark Camilleri
in

Despite the fact that Minister for Finance has been constantly harping about cutting back government expenditure and being prudent, Miriam Dalli’s Ministry for Energy announced last year a very horrible gas purchase deal whereby the government started buying gas pegged with the price changes of oil instead of those with the actual price of gas. The trade was basically a bet based on the speculative theory that Russia was going to win the gas war and oil prices were to remain at more reasonable rates when the exact opposite happened. The price of gas is way below war levels while the price of oil remains above. The Labour Party along with some of its political candidates were constantly harping on its theory that Russia would win the gas war. The changes to the price of oil and gas since Miriam Dalli’s announcement was made in April last year are listed below:

Brent Crude: -24%
Natural gas (US): -70%

Robert Abela has also recently announced that the government was going to spend ย€600 million to subsidise electricity bills this year alone but a large part of this subsidy is only to cover the premium that the Maltese government is paying for its gas purchases. Electricity prices have stabilised in Europe, and will keep stabilising further as the reduction in the price of energy has a latent effect on the consumer’s bill. Miriam Dalli also defended her trade in January by saying that the price of natural gas was to increase again but only went down ever since. Historically, the price of natural gas often goes down even more as Summer approaches, so it may still crash even more.

Comments

  1. The economic wreckage left behind – Mark Camilleri avatar
    The economic wreckage left behind – Mark Camilleri

    […] Despite its pretentious and supposed-economic genius, Labour crashed Malta’s airline and this is of course due to the rampant corruption, rent-seeking and incompetence by which it runs the country. There is no denying that the government had to step in to help the economy with large fiscal measures during the last two major global crises, Covid and the Russian invasion, but Robert Abela proceeded to spend as much as he could from the public purse without any thought or consideration whatsoever. Voluminous fiscal measures had to take place with seriously-constructed economic and fiscal plans and strategies, but the government did none of this. For example, the government didn’t take the opportunity of the oil and gas crash of 2020. Then when 2022 came, the government panicked and bought gas at long-term premium prices because it believed that Russia was going to win the gas war. Today, the government is forking out hundreds of millions of Euros in electricity subsidies not because the price of oil and gas is high, but because the government is still purchasing gas at premium prices fixed with bad contracts in April last year. […]

    Reply
  2. Why is the government still issuing electricity and fuel subsidies? – Mark Camilleri avatar
    Why is the government still issuing electricity and fuel subsidies? – Mark Camilleri

    […] by these contracts because Miriam made her bet on a very long-term basis. The Maltese government is set to spend up to ?600 million this year alone in electricity and fuel […]

    Reply
  3. Narcissists wrecking the nation – Mark Camilleri avatar
    Narcissists wrecking the nation – Mark Camilleri

    […] crisis with gimmicks. In 2021 Enemalta blamed its woes on high gas prices, but this problem was exacerbated by a stupid contract signed by Miriam Dalli and a lack of hedging – and we are still paying dearly for the consequence of this […]

    Reply
  4. Miriam Dalli’s energy trades will soon cost the taxpayer $1 billion – Mark Camilleri avatar
    Miriam Dalli’s energy trades will soon cost the taxpayer $1 billion – Mark Camilleri

    […] that offset high energy prices. This is mainly a situation of Miriam Dalli’s own doing whose gas trade, pegged with oil price increases has lost the taxp?ayer hundreds of millions of Euros. Even early this year, Miriam Dalli kept […]

    Reply

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