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Global PostThe 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.
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.
Cuba and its foreign partners are moving forward with their own offshore agenda. According to Reuters, Spain’s oil giant REPSOL has contracted for a Chinese-built rig that could begin drilling in Cuban waters later this year. That plan raises new concerns about the possibility of environmental damage to Florida if an accident were to occur on a rig in nearby Cuban waters.
Still, Cuba energy experts say that the Deepwater Horizon disaster has forced the U.S. government to allow American oil companies to begin to engage with Cuba, a step that could chip away at the trade embargo. An energy bill in the U.S. Senate sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) includes a provision that would essentially exempt U.S. oil companies from the Cuba trade embargo, arguing it would be in the interest of national security.
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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/100602/oil-drilling