Northern Petroleum says that its wholly owned subsidiary, Northern Petroleum (UK) Limited (Northern), has been advised of the preliminary award of two offshore Italian permits, d63F.R-.NP and d64F.R-.NP, covering a total of 1470 km². Northern has been invited to prepare the required environmental impact study on which work will shortly commence.

The awards are adjacent to offshore preliminary award d59F.R-.NP, which is close to the gas fields of Luna, Hera Lacinia, Linda and Lavinia. These fields represent a significant portion of the Italian gas reserves discovered to date. The applications cover the offshore extension of the Crotone and Rossano basins, where previous operators acquired high quality 3D seismic data.

Northern holds a 100% interest in the licences, but a subsidiary of ATI Oil Plc (“ATI”), in which Northern holds a 37.04% equity interest, has a 50% pari passu commercial interest in the licences (giving a current net beneficial interest to Northern of 68.52%). ATI is currently the subject of an Offer by Northern Petroleum Plc that was announced on 3 April 2009.

Graham Heard, Exploration & Technical Director, said, “We are delighted to have received these two awards, which are adjacent to the highly prospective d59F.R-.NP preliminary award, so quickly following our applications of last October.”

Tags: Northern Petroleum