The Office of the Prime Minister this morning said that there is nothing wrong with the LNG tanker which is simply undergoing tests and sea trials before it becomes operational.

The reply came more than 16 hours after the Nationalist Party held a press conference in Marsaxlokk to suggest that since the LNG tanker has not yet berthed in Marsaxlokk, it is likely that it is encountering problems. The PN press conference was held at 3.30pm yesterday, with the OPM reply coming via email after 7.30am.

The government is usually very quick to reply to the Opposition, with statements issued within one hour of a PN declaration.

In its statement this morning, the OPM said that after last Sunday the Opposition had invented a story that the Prime Minister intervened to stop the floating storage unit from entering the harbour, it has now come up with another story about technical problems.