Australian-listed Po Valley Energy (ASX: PVE) has become Italy’s newest gas producer with its first flows of gas into the country’s energy grid commencing over the weekend.
In a statement today, Po Valley said flows from the Company’s wholly-owned Castello gas field east of Milan had built up to around 1.5 million cubic feet of gas per day after initial start-up late last week.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Masterman said first gas had been a long while coming but the company pleased that the commissioning of the new plant had gone smoothly.
“Flows will be steadily increased to the planned operational level of 2.5 million cubic feet per day over the coming weeks”, Mr Masterman said.
“We are proud to be a pioneer in delivering new sources of secure domestic supplies to the Italian gas market, which is largely dependent on imported gas.
"Po Valley has been supported in this endeavour by the Italian Energy Ministry and, of course, by our patient shareholders."
He said the milestone sets Po Valley on a course of being a substantially different company in 2010 as the company makes the transition from gas explorer and developer to gas producer.
“We expect our production to double shortly as the Company remains on track to commence commissioning our second wholly-owned gas field, Sillaro, east of Bologna, early in 2010," he said.