Northern Petroleum says that its wholly owned subsidiary, Northern Petroleum (UK) Limited, has commenced drilling operations in Italy on the Savio 1x site utilising the Hydro Drilling International S.p.A. E1200 rig.

The Savio 1x well is Northern’s first well drilled in Italy as Operator. It is located in Emilia-Romagna, a prolific gas producing area of the Po Basin. The prognosis is that after passing through the outer edge of the secondary objective, which has a mean potential entrapment of 110 bcf of gas at about 3200 metres, the primary reservoir target with estimated mean gas in place of 222 bcf will be encountered at about 3500 metres sub-surface.

Northern’s mapping has had the benefit of access to a seismic survey tie into the Eni / Stratic Energy recently discovered Longanesi gas field, 25 kilometres to the northwest.

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director, said, “We are increasing our activity level in Italy. This is a milestone in progressing our very large Italian project. The odds of success have been assessed as reasonable, but nevertheless it is an exploration well. The structure is of significantly higher than average potential for the region. Any discovery will benefit from the availability of an extensive infrastructure of gas pipelines and gas fired power stations throughout a region which has one of Europe’s highest GDPs”.

Tags: Northern Petroleum