Italy Ratifies Offshore Ban Revision

Mediterranean Oil & Gas (MOG) has today welcomed the ratification of a decree which will see certain Italian offshore area open to drilling and exploration operations.

The decree, Decree 83/2012, which was approved and ratified by the Italian parliament on Friday, revises an earlier law that had prohibited offshore activity within 5 miles of the Italian coast of 12 miles of protected Italian coastline. The original ban was implemented in 2010 following the BP-Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

In June, the Italian government announced that it was revising the terms of the ban to allow any company that had attained a permit or which was in the process of attaining a permit before the ban was enacted to drill in the banned areas. Those companies that are exempt from the earlier law will now pay an additional 3 per cent levy on each of its affected permits. This levy will be paid to the state budgets of the Ministries of the Environment and Economic Development and will fund environmental monitoring, protection and supervision of the offshore areas.

The new law is expected to be entered into the Italian Official Journal some time early this week.

Mediterranean Oil & Gas, which had two permits affected by the earlier law, the Ombrina Mare oil and gas field and the AC19.PI licence in the Northern Adriatic Sea, says it looks forward to developing those resources.

"This is very positive news and we are pleased the Italian Parliament has now approved and ratified in law Decree 83/2012," Chief Executive of MOG Dr. Bill Higgs said today. "Once the full details of the decree are published we look forward to being able to continue with the development of the Ombrina Mare field, a project that is of considerable strategic importance to the company and that will be a very positive contributor to the Italian economy."