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From Bulletin 1995, N.3 |
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Hydrocarbon exploration and production in Italy is becoming more and more attractive to foreign companies, in view of the coming deregulation of interesting basins such as the Po Valley, which up to now has been reserved to the Italian government. As a matter of fact, beginning January 1, 1997, the Italian government will follow European legislation in giving all companies the possibility of exploring and producing in this region, where interesting discoveries have been made. These include gas fields and the Villafortuna’s field, which produces 60,000 b/d and is the biggest on-shore field in western Europe. The Italian government, which has already agreed to follow EU regulations regarding the release of exploration permissions, is preparing the relevant internal regulations. These, with the exception of permissions already acquired, will allow all private companies to obtain exploration permits in the Po Valley. Contemporaneously, natural gas transportation will be deregulated. Thus, companies will be free to build the relevant facilities without being obliged to use the existing system. Italian oil production is currently of 100,000 b/d, while gas production is 21 billion of cubic meters per year. In recent years, other interesting basins have been discovered, such as the Val d’Agri field (on-shore), located in the province of Potenza, southern Italy and in the Adriatic off-shore. In the latter region gas discoveries have been followed by oil discoveries, with the deep water (about 1,000 meters) Aquila well in front of Brindisi. Sicily, a region regulated by a special statute, attracted the attention of operators during the 50’s and 60’s. Exploration has since been stagnant because the petroleum legislation is not adequate to the demands of a market in evolution. Here the great oil fields of Ragusa and Gela along with the gas filed of Agliano were discovered, besides several other minor ones. The return of companies can be foreseen as soon as the current petroleum legislation, now out of date, will be changed. It is worthwhile examining briefly which foreign companies currently operate in Italy, while waiting for others to come who will increase the level of exploration and the probability of success that will further enhance the Italian mining assets. We firstly mention two French companies, Elf and Petrorep, and the Belgian Fina, that have been active in Italy from decades. Elf is a pioneer of the Adriatic offshore, where it had success in the Rospo field. This field plays a role in Italian oil history because oil was found in the carbonate rocks of the region. Fina is deeply involved in Val d’Agri, Basilicata in Southern Italy, which is one of the most promising Italian basins. Petrorep is present in many joint ventures for production in some Italian regions. Then there are two British companies, Lasmo and Enterprise, present in Italy for ten years, that are protagonists in Val d’Agri. Lasmo took the place of Total in 1991 in the oil field of Tempa Rossa, whose development is under way, while Enterprise is present, again in Val d’Agri, in the Monte Alpi field also under development. Finally there is a group of Anglo-American companies that have recently come (or come back) to Italy. These include: Amoco, Triton, British Gas, Texaco and Mobil. They are seeking to deepen and develop the themes of the research for hydrocarbons in the southern Apennines, after the successes in Val d’Agri, and to assess how the potentialities of this area spread towards other directions. The Apennines are a mountain chain that cross Italy in all its length from North to South, and they have always attracted the interest of explorationists because of the huge signs of hydrocarbons discovered in the nearby regions. It is worth mentioning that the first well mechanically drilled in Italy was at Tocco Causania, in the Abruzzo Apennines, in 1863 only 4 years after the mythical Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania that began modern oil research. The group has recently ended its studies, taking permits in the southern Apennines, in joint ventures involving the five aforementioned companies. |
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