The last stage in the removal of the gas tanks and equipment at the former gas plant in Qajjenza will be completed by the end of spring this year. Gasco Energy Ltd, the operators of the LPG storage and bottling plant in Bengħisa, including the pipeline from the importation terminal to the facility, has signed an agreement with Trihills Heavy Industries Ltd for the dismantling of the old Enemalta gas storage and filling plant in Qajjenza.

In operation since 1959, ‘it-tankijiet tal-Qajjenza’, as they are commonly known, had been officially decommissioned in September 2013 following a degassing process. The gas tanks and the pipes will be dismantled in stages, cut up and removed from site.

Today, Gasco Energy operates a new fully certified gas bottling and storage facility at Bengħisa with an investment of €20 million.  Fully respecting the EU stringent criteria as established in the Seveso II Directives, the modern Bengħisa storage and bottling plant was inaugurated in November 2012. Earlier, as from 1^st February 2009, Liquigas Malta – the other company in the Gasco Consortium – became responsible for gas distribution in cylinders,  in bulk and also autogas, for the first time in Malta.

Gasco Energy CEO Paul Agius Delicata said: “We have monitored the air quality of each storage tank at Qajjenza and established that there is no trace of gas or other combustibles present in the tanks or equipment. In 2013 the site was also certified gas free by the COMAH competent authority. We will continue to monitor until all the empty tanks and ancillary equipment is removed from site in order to ensure that the dismantling is done safely. After all the tanks and equipment are removed, the Qajjenza site will be handed back to the Government.”

Through a €20 million investment, Gasco Energy has more than doubled the LPG storage facilities and therefore has secured a continuous, adequate supply of liquefied petroleum gas at all times to cater for present and future requirements of the Maltese market.