emma_goldman
3rd August 2006, 04:19
http://www.energybulletin.net/1212.html
Exploratory Oil Drilling Done Off Cuba
by Marc Frank and Anthony Boadle
Drilling of an exploratory well in Cuba's virgin Gulf of Mexico waters
that could make the Communist nation an oil exporter and undermine the
U.S. embargo has been completed, a senior official said.
Work on the well by Spain's Repsol YPF began in June and captured the
attention of the industry and governments due to its potential economic
and political consequences.
"The drilling has ended and the Spanish company is assessing the
results. We don't know if there is good quality oil yet. We expect to be
informed in two weeks," the Cuban official, who spoke on the condition
he was not identified, said on Saturday evening.
The oil industry is watching closely the first ever well sunk in Cuba's
43,000-square-mile exclusive economic zone in the Gulf, which may hold
large quantities of medium-grade crude.
A commercially viable find could transform the cash-strapped island from
oil importer to petroleum exporting nation, adding pressure on the
United States to lift its four-decades-old trade embargo against
President Fidel Castro's government.
The senior Cuban official said Repsol was analyzing samples to determine
their quality and whether commercial production would be feasible.
Repsol believes up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil may be located where
the drill bit went down 18 miles off the northwest coast of Cuba in
waters one mile deep.
TRADE SANCTIONS
Experts said if the results were positive Repsol would take at least
four years to develop production. But they believe U.S. trade sanctions
could be a problem since much of the equipment needed to extract oil at
such a depth is American.
Cuba's exclusive economic zone runs along the north coast and down past
the western tip of Cuba. It was parceled into 59 blocks for foreign
exploration in 1999.
Repsol took the rights in 2000 to the six blocks closest to shore and
Cuba's oil-producing northwest coast. Sherritt International, a Canadian
mining and energy company, recently opted for four adjoining blocks.
Industry sources said companies from China, Britain, Brazil, Venezuela
and elsewhere were considering exploration, but waiting for the Repsol
results and the U.S. reaction.
The president of Brazil's state oil company Petrobras was expected in
Cuba at the weekend to discuss exploration and the creation of a
lubricants joint-venture, but his visit was postponed at Cuba's request,
Demarco Jorge Epifanio, Petrobras coordinator of Cuba projects, said.
Cuba has desperately searched for oil with foreign partners since the
Soviet Union's demise deprived it of 255,000 barrels per day on
preferential terms.
There have been some minor discoveries along the northwest coast's
traditional oil belt, which produces an extremely heavy crude burned in
the modified boilers of power plants and factories on the island.
Cuba's oil and gas production has increased from less than 20,000
barrels per day a decade ago to the equivalent of 75,000 barrels, half
the country's current consumption.
Exploratory Oil Drilling Done Off Cuba
by Marc Frank and Anthony Boadle
Drilling of an exploratory well in Cuba's virgin Gulf of Mexico waters
that could make the Communist nation an oil exporter and undermine the
U.S. embargo has been completed, a senior official said.
Work on the well by Spain's Repsol YPF began in June and captured the
attention of the industry and governments due to its potential economic
and political consequences.
"The drilling has ended and the Spanish company is assessing the
results. We don't know if there is good quality oil yet. We expect to be
informed in two weeks," the Cuban official, who spoke on the condition
he was not identified, said on Saturday evening.
The oil industry is watching closely the first ever well sunk in Cuba's
43,000-square-mile exclusive economic zone in the Gulf, which may hold
large quantities of medium-grade crude.
A commercially viable find could transform the cash-strapped island from
oil importer to petroleum exporting nation, adding pressure on the
United States to lift its four-decades-old trade embargo against
President Fidel Castro's government.
The senior Cuban official said Repsol was analyzing samples to determine
their quality and whether commercial production would be feasible.
Repsol believes up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil may be located where
the drill bit went down 18 miles off the northwest coast of Cuba in
waters one mile deep.
TRADE SANCTIONS
Experts said if the results were positive Repsol would take at least
four years to develop production. But they believe U.S. trade sanctions
could be a problem since much of the equipment needed to extract oil at
such a depth is American.
Cuba's exclusive economic zone runs along the north coast and down past
the western tip of Cuba. It was parceled into 59 blocks for foreign
exploration in 1999.
Repsol took the rights in 2000 to the six blocks closest to shore and
Cuba's oil-producing northwest coast. Sherritt International, a Canadian
mining and energy company, recently opted for four adjoining blocks.
Industry sources said companies from China, Britain, Brazil, Venezuela
and elsewhere were considering exploration, but waiting for the Repsol
results and the U.S. reaction.
The president of Brazil's state oil company Petrobras was expected in
Cuba at the weekend to discuss exploration and the creation of a
lubricants joint-venture, but his visit was postponed at Cuba's request,
Demarco Jorge Epifanio, Petrobras coordinator of Cuba projects, said.
Cuba has desperately searched for oil with foreign partners since the
Soviet Union's demise deprived it of 255,000 barrels per day on
preferential terms.
There have been some minor discoveries along the northwest coast's
traditional oil belt, which produces an extremely heavy crude burned in
the modified boilers of power plants and factories on the island.
Cuba's oil and gas production has increased from less than 20,000
barrels per day a decade ago to the equivalent of 75,000 barrels, half
the country's current consumption.