Environmental impact assessment of AGIP offshore exploration and production activities in the Mediterranean. Results synthesis of field investigationcarried out between 1986 and 1996

The paper presents the synthetic results of a large multidisciplinary resea rch project promoted by AGIP and carried out from 1992 to 1994 and includes some preliminary results of other researches performed up to 1996. Objecti ves of the research were: to identify, analyse and quantify all the impacts attributable to offshore Exploration and Production activities (E&P) on the coastal and marine envir onment of the Italian seas; to define a suitable methodology taking into account both normative require ments and the most significant impacts identified by scientific experts, ai ming at implementing a PC-based software package helpful in analysing and j ointly evaluating all impacts of future offshore projects.