Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Nov. 10 -- Italy has granted Sydney-headquartered producer Po Valley Energy Ltd. a 20-year production concession for Castello gas field near Milan.
It is the first concession grant in the Po Valley region since the country's gas sector was deregulated in 1998.
Po Valley Energy has completed construction of a surface plant for Castello, and connection of the pipeline to the Italian national gas grid 500 m away will begin in December to be completed early in 2009. Gas production is scheduled to begin in second- quarter 2009.
The field will be produced from a single well at an initial production rate of about 2.7 MMcfd of gas. The field's remaining proved gas reserves are put at 4.6 bcf of gas.
Some 12 bcf of gas was first produced from Castello field by Italian state company Eni over a period of 8 years during the 1980s.
