MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Sunday's referendum was supposed to allow the nation decide whether the government should revoke drilling concessions for any offshore fields less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the Italian coastline.
Just over 30 percent of the Italian electorate cast their ballots, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged voters to boycott the referendum, arguing that a successful yes-vote would lead to the country to heaver dependence on energy imports and cost thousands of jobs.
In December, Renzi's government extended existing 30-year offshore drilling concessions until resource exhaustion. If the decision is scrapped, concessions would expire over the coming decades and drilling would stop, as no new concessions are being awarded.
The referendum was declared after a campaign by nine regional governments, mostly led by Renzi's own Democratic Party.
