I am writing for and on behalf of my client Falzon Service Station Ltd which company supplied fuel to the motor yacht Pelorus – the superyacht belonging to Mr Roman Abramovic.

The “issue” of the supply of fuel to the yacht Pelorus is a private commercial matter between a first class bunker supplier who has been in the petroleum business for over 50 years and the owner of the motor yacht Pelorus and should remain a private issue between the parties as such matters always are – the intention being to resolve the issue in a professional and courteous manner.

It is therefore quite astonishing how the subject matter has drawn the published comments of so many, including some who know so very little about the subject of bunkering of vessels and about the facts of this particular case.

Unfortunately such persons are unaware of how the international bunkering industry works and fail to understand that their uninformed comments have the potential of harming in a unjustifiable manner not only the supplier but the whole yachting and bunkering industries in Malta.

Some have even called upon the government to launch an inquiry into what happened. Can one imagine such an absurd request being made in any other part of Europe? Can one imagine the Italian Government being officially called upon to intervene in an entirely private commercial contract requesting it to investigate the supply to a vessel of alleged off speck bunkers supplied by an Italian bunker supplier? No of course not.

But in Malta we are so different. We all seem to have this insatiable appetite for shooting ourselves in the foot.

Furthermore, Falzon Service Station Ltd can categorically state at this stage of its own investigation, which is still ongoing, that the fuel supplied was not “incorrect” as alleged in parts of the media and neither did the samples taken of the fuel supplied indicate that the fuel provided had an unacceptable water content as is being bandied about.

Falzon Service Station Ltd, as a first class bunker supplier, will therefore unhesitatingly take the necessary legal action against any person who is going to persist in making libellous, incorrect and unfounded remarks about the circumstances surrounding the supply of bunkers to the motor yacht Pelorus.

Dr Ann Fenech

On behalf of Falzon Service Station