Petroceltic International posts update on Italian well permit

Shares in upstream oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International fell 1.25 per cent to 7.11p at 10:49 on Friday following news of a change to the timing of commitments on a permit for a well in Northwest Italy.

The AIM-listed company stated that it had been advised that the operator of its Carisio permit - Italian energy major Eni - had lodged an application with the Ministry of Economic Development to suspend the current timing of the commitments on the permit until the completion of the environmental approval process for the Carpignano Sesia-well.

Following the most recent submission of further environmental studies to the local environmental and regulatory authorities, this current phase of the permitting process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

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Further clarity on the timing of the drilling of the Carpignano Sesia-1 well is expected upon completion of this current permitting phase.

Petroceltic International focuses on north Africa, the Mediterranan and Black Sea regions. Its strategy is to discover and acquire assets with material hydrocarbon resource potenrtial and to exploit the assets to deliver superior shareholder value.

Both Petroceltic International and Eni have a 47.5% stake in that permit.

Italy is the third largest producer of oil and fifth largest producer of gas in western Europe. Proven reserves in Italy to date exceed 622m barrels of crude oil and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas. In spite of its existing reserves, the country remains a large net importer of hydrocarbons, thus there is a large market for domestically produced gas.

MF