Sustainable management of hydrocarbon reservoirs in Italy

Approximately 80% of the energy consumed in Italy comes from Hydrocarbons (49% oil, 31% gas). Today, domestic production of hydrocarbon covers 16% of gas consumption and only 6% of oil consumption, but there are several opportunities of exploiting new oil and gas reservoirs, that could increase the total production. However, many of the above hydrocarbons reservoirs are located in environmentally sensitive areas, or close to urban areas, and thus their exploitation often poses considerable technical and environmental problems. After an exposition of the technical problems involved, the paper examines the Italian laws and the obstacles to exploitation due to national environmental regulations. In particular, emphasis has been put on: (1) recent additional regulation on exploration and production activities imposed by regional and local authorities, and (2) highly emotional responses of local communities regarding the perceived risk connected with hydrocarbon industry.