Oil spill: a boon for Cuba?
The Gulf oil spill could mean more drilling off Cuban coast.
By Nick Miroff
Published: June 4, 2010 06:44 ET in The Americas
HAVANA, Cuba — The worst oil spill in U.S. history may not be such a bad thing for Cuba — assuming that the crude now fouling up the Gulf never reaches the island's shores.
It's an environmental threat that also comes with a potential economic opportunity. Cuba’s untapped offshore reserves are growing increasingly attractive to U.S. oil companies with every gushing barrel into the Gulf, some experts say.
Cuba has 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undersea deposits off its northwest coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates, enough to put the country on par with major regional exporters like Colombia and Ecuador. Cuban geologists say there may be four times that amount in vast hydrocarbon pools under Cuban-controlled waters farther out into the Gulf.
The Castro government has already signed deals with nearly a dozen foreign oil companies interested in drilling those waters, including Brazil’s Petrobras, Norway’s Statoil and a unit of India’s ONGC. It has also extended invitations to U.S. oil companies, which are currently barred from doing business with Cuba under the half-century-old trade embargo.
more.....
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/100602/oil-drilling
The Gulf oil spill could mean more drilling off Cuban coast.
By Nick Miroff
Published: June 4, 2010 06:44 ET in The Americas
HAVANA, Cuba — The worst oil spill in U.S. history may not be such a bad thing for Cuba — assuming that the crude now fouling up the Gulf never reaches the island's shores.
It's an environmental threat that also comes with a potential economic opportunity. Cuba’s untapped offshore reserves are growing increasingly attractive to U.S. oil companies with every gushing barrel into the Gulf, some experts say.
Cuba has 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undersea deposits off its northwest coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates, enough to put the country on par with major regional exporters like Colombia and Ecuador. Cuban geologists say there may be four times that amount in vast hydrocarbon pools under Cuban-controlled waters farther out into the Gulf.
The Castro government has already signed deals with nearly a dozen foreign oil companies interested in drilling those waters, including Brazil’s Petrobras, Norway’s Statoil and a unit of India’s ONGC. It has also extended invitations to U.S. oil companies, which are currently barred from doing business with Cuba under the half-century-old trade embargo.
more.....
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/100602/oil-drilling
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