Italy: Sound Oil Gets EIA Approval for Rapagnano Field

London-listed Sound Oil has announced that it has received approval for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) from the Marche regional authorities for its onshore Rapagnano gas field in Italy.

The field, which is located in the Italian province of Marche, in the town of Fermo, is a historical producer having first being discovered in 1952. Sound Oil says that the field has produced four billion standard cubic feet in its lifetime with production shutting in 2001 due to high water production from the upper reservoir level.

The approval from the Marche regional authorities is the first step in conducting an EIA on the field. The company says that it expects to get the next level of approval, approval from the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, in the next month. Once that approval is gained, Sound Oil plans to begin production from the field by the end of the year.

Sound Oil says that operations on the field will see the company closing the problematic upper reservoir, instead re-opening the lower reservoir which was previously producing without significant associated water.

The company says that it expects the field to have a lifetime of an additional 13 years, with 1.3 billion standard cubic feet (P50) expected to be extracted from this lower reservoir.

Sound Oil will fund the development of the field together with Italian engineering firm CSTI, which will provide 52 per cent of the development capital costs.

"Rapagnano represents a key strategic milestone of achieving first revenue for Sound Oil," CEO and Chairman of Sound Oil, Gerry Orbell, said today. "We are pleased that the key environmental approvals in the application process have now been granted and that the project is progressing to the expected schedule."