Po Valley Energy Secures Second Italian Permit

Australian-listed Po Valley Energy is set to secure a second exploration licence in Italy just a week after it secured its first offshore exploration licence in the country.

The company has today been awarded a preliminary exploration permit for the Torre del Moro licence, a licence area which is adjacent to its own fully-owned and operated Terra del Sore exploration licence. It will be awarded a final exploration permit following the completion and submission of an environmental impact study on the licence area.

The company believes has identified large structures within the licence areas, which have similarities to the Pliocence gas fields located nearby and the Villafortuna-Trecate oil field, a field which has so far produced 220 million barrels of oil and associated gas.

"This project increases the company’s exploration targets in an attractive area adjacent to our Terra del Sole permit," Po Valley managing director Giovanni Catalano said. "It will allow the company to fully evaluate structures within the two contiguous blocks and will help progress potentially attractive leads to drillable status."

The awarding of the preliminary licence is the second win for Po Valley Energy in the past week, with the company having been awarded another exploration licence, its first offshore exploration licence in Italy. The AR94PY licence awarded last Friday, gives Po Valley access to two connected gas discoveries previously drilled and tested by former operator Eni, the Carola and Irma discoveries. The two discoveries are located in the shallow waters of the Adriatic Sea.

The Carola and Irma discoveries have a low contingent resource estimate of  22 billion cubic feet (bcf) and best estimate contingent resource 24.8 bcf.