Petroceltic Awarded Two Offshore Licences, Italy

Petroceltic International subsidiary Petroceltic Italia has been granted two offshore exploration licences for the Adriatic Sea off Italy.

The licences, which are granted by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, cover an area of 144.5 km2 for the first licence, BR 270, and 327.1 km2 for the second licence, BR 271. Petroceltic Italia is awarded the permits for six years.

Another three licence applications are still under consideration by the Ministry of Economic Development.

The company says that 2D geophysical data has already identified a number of prospects within the permits. The permits lie adjacent to three existing oil and gas plays, Petroceltic said today, including the Santo Stefano Mare Pliocene biogenic gas play. 

Petroceltic is the 100 per cent licence holder and operator of these permits. However, owing to a prior farm-in agreement signed in 2010, Orca Exploration Group will have an option to earn a 15 per cent interest in these permits subject to the usual regulatory approvals.

Chief Executive of Petroceltic, Brian O’Cathain said the granting of the two permits was indicative of the Italian government's renewed focus on developing offshore hydrocarbons in Italy.

"We are delighted with the award of these offshore exploration permits which is indicative of a desire to re-activate the offshore Italian exploration and production industry by the Government of Italy, for the benefit of the national and regional communities and economies, in line with the recently announced review of the national energy strategy by Minister Passera," he said.

"Petroceltic is committed in all of its operations to act responsibly and with due care to the environment and local stakeholders and we look forward to continuing to work with the Italian authorities to explore these prospective licences."