Prospex Oil and Gas Plc announce that it has been advised by the operator, Po Valley Operations Limited ('PVO'), that formal technical environmental approval for the development of the Selva Malvezzi Gas-Field ('Selva') in northern Italy has been received from the Italian Environment Ministry. Environmental approval is a precursor to final sign off by Ministerial decree, the issuing of the required INTESA (intergovernmental agreement) and the final grant of a production concession from Italy's Economic Development Ministry. Gas production at Selva, which has gross gas reserves of 13.3bcf (2P), is targeted to commence in 2020. A preliminary Production Concession for Selva was granted by the Italian Government in January 2019 (see announcement of 15 January 2019 for further details). Under the proposed development plans for Selva, which historically produced 83Bcf of gas between 1960 and 1984, a fully automated gas plant will initially be installed at the existing Selva/Podere Maiar 1dir well site, along with a one-kilometre long pipeline to connect the well with the nearby Italian National Gas Grid. The planned Selva development has a small footprint of less than half a hectare and will have no emissions from any future commissioning of its gas inventory. Based on dynamic reservoir studies, an initial daily production rate is being targeted at Selva of up to 150,000 cubic metres (5.3 mmscf/d) from two gas-bearing reservoirs, C1 and C2, in the Medium-Upper Pliocene sands of the Porto Garibaldi formation. The Podere Maiar well was drilled into Selva in Fourth Quarter 2017. During testing, peak flow rates of 148,136 scm/day (5.2mmscf/d) on a 3/8 inch choke and 129,658 scm/day (4.6 mmscf/d) on a 3/8 inch choke were recorded from the C1 and C2 reservoirs respectively. Selva, which sits within the 331km² Podere Gallina Exploration Permit (the 'Podere Gallina'), of which Prospex holds a 17% economic interest, in the Po Valley region of Italy. As previously announced, a Competent Person's Report produced by geophysical services consultancy, CGG Services (UK) Limited ('CGG') assigned 2P gas reserves of 2.26Bcf to Prospex's 17% interest in Podere Gallina In addition to these reserves, CGG estimates Selva's two historic gas producing North Flank and South Flank reservoirs have a 60% - 70% chance of holding gross contingent resources ('2C') of 14.1Bcf. Podere Gallina also holds four large prospects (East Selva, Fondo Perino, Cembalina, and Riccardina) which have been assigned aggregate gross prospective resources (best estimate) of 91.5Bcf.