Italy opens rival bids for 516,92 square kilometres in Sicily Strait

The Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security of Italy has opened a three-month window for competing applications for a hydrocarbon exploration licence covering 516,92 km² of Maritime Zone C in the Strait of Sicily, following a request filed by AUDAX ENERGY S.r.l. under the internal reference ‘d 370 C.R-.AU’. The notice, issued under Article 3(2) of Directive 94/22/EC, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 30 October 2026 as C/2026/5785.

The publication is a procedural obligation: Article 3(2) of Directive 94/22/EC requires a member state to give other interested parties the chance to apply for the same area before an exploration authorisation is granted. The Italian framework applied here is set out in Law No 613 of 21 July 1967, Law No 9 of 9 January 1991, Legislative Decree No 625 of 25 November 1996, the Ministerial Decree of 7 December 2016 as amended by the Ministerial Decree of 9 August 2017, and the Directorial Decree of 15 July 2015.

The authority that will decide is the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security – Department for Energy – Directorate-General for Energy Sources and Licences. The notice concerns an exploration licence only; no production authorisation is at stake in this step.

An irregular block pinned to the Tunisian shelf line

The area is bounded by meridian and parallel arcs joining nine points, lettered a to i. Its western and southern corners are fixed by the delimitation line of the Italian-Tunisian continental shelf rather than by a round coordinate, which closes the block on two sides:

• Point a: intersection of the Italian-Tunisian continental shelf delimitation line with parallel 37°13′
• Points b to h: longitudes running from 12°08′ E west to 12°01′ E and latitudes from 37°13′ N south to 37°00′ N
• Point i: intersection of meridian 12°01′ and the Italian-Tunisian continental shelf delimitation

The coordinates were plotted on the nautical map of the Italian coastline produced by the Italian Navy’s Hydrographic Institute at a scale of 1:250 000, Map No 948. On that basis the ministry states the surface area at 516,92 km².

Deadline, encryption and a 180-day cap

Applications must reach the ministry within three months of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, meaning by 30 January 2027. Filings arriving after that date will not be considered.

• Delivery channel: certified email (PEC) to fta@pec.mase.gov.it
• Signature: application and attached documentation signed digitally by the applicant company’s representative
• Confidentiality: technical report and programme of works attached compressed and encrypted with 256-bit AES symmetric-key encryption
• Decryption key: sent in a separate certified email at the end of the tendering period

Under point 2 of Annex A to Prime Ministerial Decree No 22 of 22 December 2010, the overall duration of the granting procedure must not exceed 180 days.

A cluster of adjacent requests from the same applicant

The 30 October notice is the third in a sequence of filings by AUDAX ENERGY S.r.l. in the same waters. The same issue of the Official Journal carries C/2026/5786, covering 213,07 km² of Maritime Zone C under reference ‘d 369 C.R-.AU’. An earlier notice, C/2026/4934 of 22 September 2026, covers 573,30 km² spanning Maritime Zones C and G under reference ‘d 368 C.R-.AU’.

The three blocks sit inside the same longitude band and overlap in latitude, so competing bids may arrive on several fronts at once and the ministry could face parallel evaluations under the same 180-day ceiling.

The notice gives energy operators until the end of January to challenge AUDAX ENERGY S.r.l. for acreage that touches the maritime boundary with Tunisia, putting the delimitation line and the ministry’s licensing timetable at the centre of any decision on who explores the Sicilian offshore.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, No C/2026/5785, 30 October 2026, section I (official reference: C/2026/5785).