Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has warned of disquiet in Mediterranean countries after BP announced new deepwater drilling off Libya.

"Everybody is watching closely what BP is doing since the worrying events in the Gulf of Mexico," Mr Frattini told a news conference following talks with European Union counterparts in Brussels.

However, Mr Frattini said any action relating to the exploration work near the Sicilian coast would have to be taken up by the Mediterranean Union, which groups rim countries from Europe, north Africa and the Middle East.

"If an incident like the one in the Gulf of Mexico were to happen in the Mediterranean, it would be a catastrophe beyond repair, because the Mediterranean is like a lake (in comparison)," remarked Mr Frattini. The drilling will take place at depths of 1,700 metres, slightly more than those of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig off Lousiana, where an April 20 explosion killed 11 workers and caused the worst environmental disaster in US history.

"We expect to begin the first well in the next few weeks," company spokesman David Nicholas said of the 2007 deal with Libya to explore the Gulf of Sirte, promising to learn the lessons of the Gulf catastrophe.