NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AN OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION LICENCE DESIGNATED CONTRADA GIARDINELLO

ITALIAN REPUBLIC — SICILY REGION

REGIONAL MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICES — REGIONAL DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

REGIONAL OFFICE FOR HYDROCARBONS AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY (U.R.I.G.)

2011/C 274/05

On 4 January 2010, in accordance with Sicilian Regional Law No 14 of 3 July 2000, which transposes and implements Directive 94/22/EC, EniMed — Eni Mediterranea Idrocarburi SpA — a company having its registered office at Strada Statale 117 bis — Contrada Ponte Olivo, 93012 Gela (CL) — tax code 12300000150, the sole representative, with a 45 % holding, and other joint holders Irminio s.r.l. with a 30 % holding and Edison SpA with a 25 % holding, applied to the Regional Minister at what was then the Regional Ministry for Industry, Via Ugo La Malfa 87/89, 90146 Palermo, Italia, the competent authority for granting mining rights in the Region of Sicily, to prospect for oil and gas in an area conventionally known as ‘Contrada Giardinello’, extending over an area of 38 040 ha (380,40 km2), in the provinces of Ragusa and Catania in south-east Sicily. The licence application area is bordered to the south by the coastline, to the west by the Passo di Piazza licence application area, to the north-west by the Piano Lupo concession application area, to the north-east by the Fiume Tellaro licence area, and to the east by the Ragusa licence, the Tresauro licence and the Irminio licence.

The licence application area surrounds the ‘Bonincontro’ concession area, the area of which has been excluded from the calculation of the licence area in question.

The municipalities concerned for the Province of Ragusa are: Ragusa, S. Croce Camerina, Vittoria, Comiso, Acate and Chiaramonte Gulfi. The municipalities in the Province of Catania concerned are: Caltagirone and Mazzarrone.

The perimeter of the area for which the licence is requested is delineated by continuous lines between points a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p and q as defined below:

The line between points q and a coincides with that of the coastline at low tide.

Geographical coordinates

Interested parties may submit an application for a licence for this area within 90 days of the date of publication of this notice in the Official Journal of the European Union. Applications received after that period will be declared inadmissible. The Decree granting the exploration licence will be issued within six months of the closing date for the submission of competing applications. In accordance with Article 5(1) of Directive 94/22/EC, notice is also given that the criteria on the basis of which prospection licences, exploration licences and exploitation concessions are issued have already been published in Official Journal of the European Communities C 396 of 19 December 1998, with reference to Legislative Decree of the President of the Republic No 625 of 25 November 1996 (published in Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No 293 of 14 December 1996), which transposes and implements the abovementioned Directive into Italian law, and were specified in Sicilian Regional Law No 14 of 3 July 2000 (published in Official Gazette of the Region of Sicily No 32 of 7 July 2000).

The conditions and requirements regarding the performance or cessation of activities are laid down in the abovementioned Sicilian Regional Law No 14 of 3 July 2000 and in the Standard Specifications issued by Decree No 91 of 30 October 2003 and Decree No 88 of 20 October 2004 of the Regional Minister at what was then the Regional Ministry of Industry and published in the Official Gazette of the Region of Sicily Part I, No 49 of 14 November 2003 and Part I, No 46 of 5 November 2004 respectively.

The application documents have been filed at the Regional Office for Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy (U.R.I.G.) of the Regional Department of Mining, Via Ugo La Malfa 101, 90146 Palermo, Italia, where they may be consulted by interested parties.