Northern Petroleum has been awarded two permits in Italy. One permit, Cascina Alberto, is onshore in the Po Valley and the other, C.R149.NP, is offshore in the Sicily Channel adjacent to the Northern Petroleum operated permit C.R146.NP.

The Cascina Alberto permit area was formally held by Eni in the late 1990s as permit Fiume Sesia and was the subject of a farm-in by Enterprise Oil for the Gattinara prospect in 2000. The prospect was interpreted as having similarities in structure to the Villafortuna-Trecate oil field located 25km to the south-east. The company will re-evaluate the potential of the Gattinara prospect and will seek a partner to join in the exploration of the permit to progress the prospect for drilling.

The permit C.R149.NP was applied for to encompass an extension of the Vesta prospect, mapped within the company's adjacent C.R146.NP permit. The company has evaluated the Vesta prospect to have a larger structure than the Vega oil field, which lies on trend to the north-east. The company will now seek a partner to join in the drilling of the Vesta prospect.