The ban is official

An FPSO unit similiar to the one oilmen want to build along the Abruzzo coast.
Go drill Ireland!

Dear Mr. Brian O'Cathain of Petroceltic,
Dear Mr. Sergio Morandi of Mediterranean Oil and Gas,
and FYI to Mr. Craig Clark of Forest Oil Corporation

The ban is official!

Starting from today it is illegal in Italy to drill any of your unwanted oil rigs within 5 miles from shore anywhere along the coast, and within 12 miles close to Natural marine reserves.

AS OF TODAY ELSA2 AND OMBRINA MARE ARE OUTLAWED.

Today, August 26th 2010, the law presented by the Minister for the Environment, Stefania Prestigiacomo, comes into effect. The law was proposed after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and because of huge negative popular sentiment against offshore drilling all over the country. Our efforts to stop you and save Abruzzo have played no small part in this effort. The battle is not over and we will keep hounding you until you go back where you came from and where you belong. We will not let you play games with us.

Your ill-conceived plans of drilling us at 2 or 3 miles from shore are history.

Your plans of placing a fire-spitting processing unit - a permanent ship meant to desulfurize sour crude oil, complete of incineration unit that alone would have spewed 800 tons of petroleum waste a day - are history.

Just gracefully give it up and leave us alone.
We don't want you here.

To PCI investors

"As I understand it, Petroceltic were assured by the Italian Ministry of energy that there were no problems with the issue of permits prior to Petroceltic entering into contractual obligations with others."

NOT TRUE. The Ministry does not assure anything. You think this is a private affair between Petroceltic and the Ministry? The law says that there are 60 days in which people can express their opinions. Well, we the people, including the Catholic church, winemakers, tourism operators, etc etc, we all expressed our opposition. The Ministry cannot ignore us, it is the law.

Who will compensate those companies affected?

When you drill, invest and play dice, there is something called risk. Simply, this was and will be a bad investment for Petroceltic. No one compensates you when you gamble and lose.

"The only concrete news regarding Italy is that they have made a request. To my logic, if a request is made the respondent has the option to say no. And until we know otherwise that might well be the case. Agreed there are mitigating circumstances that were unforeseen when the inital agreement was made."

Yes they made a request, and the people of Abruzzo came back with protests, letters to the Ministry, and marches. There never was an initial agreement. Petroceltic NEVER had permission to drill. They thought it would be easy and that their permits would be rubber stamped, but they left out the most important ingredient: us the people.

All those dates they give you, October 31st, July 1st is just blabber. They have no clue, because we the people don't want their rigs. It has been going on for months.
No is no is no. Another rally will occur on July 25th to protest Petroceltic and MOG.

Abruzzo against Petroceltic and Mediterranean Oil and Gas

Mr. Sergio Morandi and Mr. Brian O' Cathain, those gentlemen at Petroceltic and at Mediterranean Oil and Gas keep writing corporate-speak press releases about how nice they are to the people of Abruzzo and how they will drill us in an 'environmental' way. They even discuss their plans on how to bypass the new law passed by the Minister for the Environment, Stefania Prestigiacomo, to stop drilling within 12 miles of natural reserves and within 5 miles everywhere else.

From Dublin and London, they even use the word 'eco-drilling'; as if such a thing existed. Well, we are not going to let them insult our intelligence, nor drill our beaches. Here are a few videos of one of many marches and protests over the past few months to say NO to Petroceltic, MOG, Orca, Northern Petroleum, and to the Forest Oil Corporation. These are from May 30, 2010, in the town of Lanciano.

All major politicians have said NO to this project, including the president of the province and the coastal mayors of Abruzzo. Even the bishop said it is immoral to drill our waters!

We have been fighting big oil for the past 3 years. ENI - the seventh largest oil company in the world - packed up and left. Sirs, we are not going to let you destroy us.

GO DRILL YOUR OWN BEACHES!!