Global Petroleum is taking steps to oppose environmentalists who have objected to two offshore licences in the Southern Adriatic Sea.
Despite getting approval from the Italian government for two of its four applications for the area, Global said “a number of appeals” have been launched against them.
Opponents to the schemes are said to be a mixture of local and urban authorities, and by special interest groups.
In a statement the board said they are taking the “necessary steps” to oppose the appeals.
They added: “The company understands that local authorities have recently appealed against other environmental decrees in the Southern Adriatic, and that these appeals have been rejected by the competent legal tribunal.”
The southern Adriatic is currently undergoing a significant new phase of oil and gas exploration.
Accordingly, there have been a number of recent applications in the Adriatic.
Adjacent to Italian waters, Montenegro held a licensing round in 2014, with Croatia following suit in 2015.
Seismic acquisition companies have begun large, multi-client 2D acquisition programmes across the entire basin, from Italy to Croatia.
In 2013 Shell and Petromanas announced the Shiprag discovery onshore Albania, which is thought to be linked to the same petroleum source rock and similar reservoir to some of those identified in the offshore Adriatic.