Po Valley has begun civil works on Vitalba and these works should take about 4-6 weeks depending on weather conditions, according to the company.

The drill rig is expected to mobilize to the Vitalba-1 drill site in early February 2005.

Vitalba has proven and probable reserves of 8.6 bcf and has previously produced 12.6 bcf of gas from one production well under the management of ENI, according to Po Valley CEO Michael Masterman.

“Vitalba is the first cab off the rank and should be shortly followed by Sillaro – its a good early start to the 2005 development program,” Masterman said.