Offshore Malta licence in the Central Mediterranean Sea offers hope of hydrocarbon potential

Malta Oil Ltd (MOL) holds an exploration license over Blocks 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Area 4), 130 km south of Malta, abutting the established and undisputed international boundary with the Libyan offshore, in water depths of about 200 m to 500 m. The area is surrounded by proven petroleum systems and shows, from an exploration point of view, important analogies with the well-known off-shore Tunisia and northern Lybian petroleum provinces: in fact, sources, reservoirs and seals, similar in age and character to those developed in Tunisia and Libya, appear to have been likely developed also in the Study Area, especially in the so-called Melita-Medina graben. The Melita-Medina graben represent a very interesting paleogeographic and structural feature in the area, where the presence of an effective petroleum system is supported by the results of our study, and where the more prospective cluster of exploration opportunities lies. The objective the article is to summarize the results of the recent interpretation, describe the geological evolution of the area, and give our prospective on the exploration potential of this under-explored area, with particular attention to block 7. Following the encouraging results of the study, current exploration plans include the possibly acquisition of additional non-seismic data (mainly for de-risking purposes), and to mature the existing prospects portfolio for a drilling decision and operation before end 2011.