Italy: Sicily onshore heavy oil block awarded
Sound Oil PLC said its Apennine Energy SRL subsidiary was awarded 100% interest and operatorship of the Costa Del Sole permit in a heavy oil area of southwestern Sicily, Italy.
The award is made by the Department of Energy of the Sicily Region subject to the submission and acceptance of an Environmental Impact Assessment. Apennine Energy will submit the necessary documentation within days.
The permit contains the Manfria-1bis oil discovery, which flowed at 150 b/d of oil and produced a cumulative 6,000 bbl during testing. It is estimated to contain a midrange contingent resource of 2 million bbl. The adjacent Cielo prospect, which appears in structural continuity with Manfria, could hold a similar resource if successfully drilled, Sound Oil said.
Manfria and Cielo 10 km from Gela field and a heavy oil refinery. Apennine Energy plans to acquire, reprocess, and interpret legacy seismic data in order to define drilling locations for possible appraisal and exploratory wells.
Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
