Italian fuels giant ENI confirmed on Wednesday that it has found natural gas reserves in the Sicilian Channel, some 20km off the southern city of Agrigento.

ENI said initial tests showed that it could expect to produce 170,000 cubic meters of gas a day by drilling some 500 meters below sea level at its Argo 2 platform.

Gas reserves were also recently located at ENI's exploratory Cassiopea 1 platform while new reserves have been located at the Argo 1 station at a level below the one currently being exploited.