Certain sections of the media claimed this week that there was not enough gas to go round, and that it was the government’s fault because they did not have a contingency plan.

Although there is an element of truth in this, in that the gas was not exactly in Malta, it is only fair to point out that bad weather and strong winds prevented the ship carrying 1,500 tonnes of liquid petroleum from entering harbour. The ship received the go-ahead to do so yesterday morning, after weather conditions improved.

The newspaper reports claimed that the government had planned badly, thus allowing stocks to run low. The reports also said that the government had tried to cover up this fact by bottling only 6,000 cylinders per day instead of 9,000. In turn, Enemalta limited the supply given to gas distributors.

But what really happened?

A ship carrying 1,500 tonnes of gas had been sitting outside our harbour since Saturday and could not make it inside because of extremely bad weather. In fact, the weather was so bad that even cruise ships changed their itineraries because they could not get into harbour. If the naked eye was not enough to establish the simple fact that the sea was far too rough, then observing what the cruise ships were forced to do should have been.

So, are we supposed to believe that the government is to blame for the bad weather, for the rain, or for winds gusting at 76kph? Are we supposed to believe that it was the government’s fault that a new consignment of gas did not come into Malta when stocks were running low and when a total of 27 ships were refused clearance to enter harbour?

It is truly incredible that someone can try and pin the blame on everything else other than nature when ships have to wait for a total of three days before the winds and waves subsided.

If anything, the government and Enemalta should be praised for good planning. Some may ask what this means and the answer is simple. Rather than bottling and distributing at the normal rate, and in so doing dangerously deplete gas bottle stocks, the government decided to slow it down in an effort to ensure that stocks were still available to buy on the market.

If Enemalta had proceeded as normal, then it would have deserved criticism because of the shortage of gas it would have created. As things eventually panned out, there was plenty of gas for everyone. The worst that could have happened was that people would not have been able to buy spares. As it happens, everything has returned to normal and Enemalta is working at a faster pace than normal to ensure that stocks are replenished.

What we must also not forget is that the gas does not arrive in cylinders. It arrives in a sealed container in liquid form. That liquid is then transferred to a gas tower that has a limited capacity. Enemalta orders stocks according to what is in the huge tank. But it can never be held responsible for a gas shortage that never materialised. The ship was sitting outside the harbour, the gas was here and no blame can be attributed to anyone apart from Mother Nature.

Scaremongering does no one any good. It forces panic buying – in doing so creating optimum conditions for kick-starting a shortage. We understand that the corporation is selling four times as much gas as it has done in the past. Perhaps one valid suggestion might be the construction of an emergency reserve gas tower to provide back-up for eventualities such as the one this week.