European winter gas-supply squeeze.
prob 0.46
severity 4.1 / 5 · revision 2026-05-10elevated · 45 European markets · gas + power + storage refill$ shortage country get MLT > stress_index: 0.52 WATCH > 4 events · 1 scenarios > refreshed 2026-05-17
BRENT $84.27 ▲ TTF €31.50 ▼ OPEC_SP 3.8 mb/d ● SPR_US 372.4 Mb FAO_FFPI 121.4 ▲
The v3.2 stress index is a six-axis composite of energy and food exposure, geopolitical pressure, fiscal headroom, demography and supply concentration, normalised to a 0–1 scale.
Malta is a small island state that imports essentially all of its energy and food. Power comes from a gas-fired plant fed by an LNG storage vessel at Delimara and from a single electricity interconnector to Sicily. Island isolation and water scarcity are its defining constraints.
Malta has no rivers or natural lakes and depends almost entirely on desalination amid extreme water scarcity.
No major lake or reservoir
| STOCK TYPE | RESERVE | DAYS COVER | STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil · compulsory reserveIndustry holds the EU-mandated 90 days of net oil-import cover. | ~90 days | 90days | STABLE |
| Natural gas · Delimara LNG storage vesselPower generation depends on a gas plant supplied by a moored LNG storage and regasification vessel at Delimara. | single floating store | 20days | WATCH |
| Grain · commercial stocksNegligible domestic agriculture leaves Malta dependent on imported staples shipped to the island. | very limited | 30days | CRITICAL |
$ curl -s https://api.shortage.life/v1/countries/MLT | jq '.stress' > 0.52