Photo of Abruzzo coastline posted on Flickr by Vito Manzari.
The Italian government is pushing ahead with plans to permit offshore drilling just five kilometres off the coastline of the rural region of Abruzzo, despite warnings that they could be risking an environmental disaster much closer to land than the one in the Gulf of Mexico.
Crude oil beneath the olive groves, mountains and beaches of Abruzzo - a region famous for its wine - was detected by Italian energy giant ENI in 2001. The company unearthed several potential oil sites, both inland and offshore, and in 2007, obtained a permit to operate an oil refinery in the coastal town of Ortona.
When locals got wind of the plans, they began lobbying their local politicians to refuse the inland plant. It was only after years of protest however, that ENI finally admitted defeat in May this year.
Meanwhile, three subsidiaries of other companies - Petroceltic, Cygam and Mediterranean Oil and Gas (MOG), have acquired permits to drill offshore, from as little as five kilometres from the region's coastline. This time, the locals have not succeeded in their efforts to halt the plans, and despite a dire warning - in the form of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico - the government has ignored calls to review the contracts.
The subsidiaries involved:
- Vega Oil - a subsidiary of Cygam Energy Incorporated, Canada. The Elsa-2 rig will be situated 7km off the Abruzzo coast and drill to a depth of 4,700 metres. It is supposed be open by the end of the year.
- Petroceltic Elsa - a subsidiary of Petroceltic International, Ireland. The €29 million contract will see Petroceltic drilling at the same Elsa-2 platform once it is open.
- Medoilgas Italia - a subsidiary of MOG, UK. Supposed to begin operating a rig 5km offshore and a desulphurization plant 9km offshore by the end of 2010, MOG put this project on hold on 15 March in response to the local protests.
