italy lifts ban on offshore drilling

I think KEY still holds the Lampedusa leases. This should possibly increase their value if they are being sold off ...

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Oil/768887...

"The Italian government plans to revoke a 2010 ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, permitting companies to start drilling operations within a 12-mile limit off the coast in "environmentally protected areas," Italian Senator Francesco Ferrante said in a telephone interview.

The offshore drilling restrictions were introduced in 2010 following the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Before the ban, the government had authorized Eur4.5 billion ($5.59 billion) of investment in offshore drilling. It banned these activities within five miles of the Italian coast and 12 miles off the protected areas.

The new measures are expected to lower the drilling threshold all around Italy to five miles from the coastline, Ferrante said. They could be introduced as early as this week, at the next cabinet meeting......"