The Environmental Safety Group (ESG) has reacted to the recent LNG ship to ship transfer that took place in Gibraltar waters last week.

The group says that, while it notes the explanation provided by Government and the Gibraltar Port Authority, that safety issues were paramount, it considers that “commercial interests were prioritised on this occasion to enable an unlicensed procedure to take place.”

A spokesperson said: “Our group has always advocated for highest standards and best practice to be applied to all industrial activity and would expect this LNG transaction, having satisfied the GPA, to have complied with such standards. However, we would be most interested to know what protocols and safety standards were applied and how these compare to a fully licensed operation.

“The ESG believes that the best way of ensuring industry is compliant to highest standards is for all operations to be carried out under full and transparent licensed agreement and calls for all future transactions to follow these rules.”