Po Valley gets penultimate approval for Podere Maiar start-up
Po Valley Energy has secured penultimate approval to start production at the Podere Maiar gas field in north Italy, the company said on June 2, with the project on track to come online in the first half of next year.
The Emilia Romagna regional council has approved a local government production agreement for the field, Po Valley said, and this is a prerequisite for Italy's ecological transition ministry to grant a final production concession. This final concession will allow Po Valley to install a gas plant and a 1-km pipeline to flow the field's gas into the national grid, the company said, noting it was negotiating with contractors for this work.
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Podere Maiar is expected to flow gas at a maximum rate of 150,000 m3/day. Po Valley has a 63% interest in the project, while Prospex has a 37% interest.
Italy is scrambling to find alternatives to Russian gas supply in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. In recent months the government has unveiled plans for additional LNG import capacity, and has reached out to pipeline suppliers in North Africa to tap extra supply. In Italy itself, however, upstream projects notoriously face lengthy and complicated approval processes, which has hindered development.