Cuba To Drill For Oil Off Of Key West, FL

An interesting post from http://sweetness-light.com about Cuba drilling in the Gulf of Mexico while America doesn't. This follows this post about environmental regulations This follows this post about a creative solution to Gulf drilling and this previous article about the recent news about offshore drilling to encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran and Venezuela. For more posts like this click here.

Cuba To Drill For Oil Off Of Key West, FL
From the Wall Street Journal:
Florida Sees New Threat to Its Beaches
Deepwater Drilling Project in Cuban Waters Set to Launch Next Year Could Kick Off a Spate of Exploration in the Region
By RUSSELL GOLD JULY 2, 2010
Florida has long fought to prevent oil drilling anywhere near its white sandy beaches. But as the state continues to deal with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washing up on its shores, it faces a new threat: deepwater drilling in nearby Cuban waters.
Maria Ritter, a spokeswoman for Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA, said it plans to drill off Cuba, about 60 miles south of Key West, Fla., early next year. If successful, this would likely kick off a spate of exploration. Only one deepwater well has been drilled in Cuban waters, by Repsol in 2004. The effort found oil but not enough to justify commercial development.
Since then, the U.S. Geological Survey has said there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off the Cuban coast, whetting the appetite of several global oil companies that have signed exploration leases.
U.S. companies won’t participate because of a longstanding trade embargo against Cuba. Repsol plans to use a floating drilling rig being refurbished in a Chinese shipyard, similar to the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP PLC that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April. Almost all parts and components in the rig to be used by Repsol are from non-U.S. companies.
Which guarantees that the environmentalists won’t object. Not that they would ever object to anything done by the workers paradise of Cuba.
The Obama administration has sought a six-month ban on deepwater drilling in U.S. waters to reassess risks and establish new safety procedures if necessary. But any new rules wouldn’t reach Repsol’s project in Cuban waters.
Actually, Mr. Obama’s illegal moratorium will ‘reach’ Cuba. They will give the Cubans still more incentive to drill, and make more equipment available to them.
A spill there, even one significantly smaller than the continuing BP spill, could turn into an economic and environmental nightmare for Florida. Some oceanographers say the oil would likely be carried up Florida’s Atlantic Coast, the heart of its tourism industry.
"We have one of the world’s largest coral reefs and a protected marine sanctuary there," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) "We should not be drilling there."
Maybe Mr. Nelson will write a stiff letter of protest to Granma or contact his dear comrade, Fidel Castro.
In any case, you can be sure that Cuba has studied all of the potential environmental implications and that they have instituted the most rigorous safety precautions.
Repsol has operations in many parts of the world, including the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico.
Drilling off Florida in U.S. waters has been banned by federal moratorium for decades. To protect the state’s tourism-based economy, Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent, is floating a proposal for an amendment to the Florida constitution to ban offshore drilling there permanently.
It’s not clear what U.S. or Florida officials could do to stop oil exploration in Cuba.
Even if the US could stop Cuba, it is unthinkable that Mr. Obama would.
The U.S. controls coastal waters up to 200 miles from its shores, but under a 1977 treaty it agreed to divide the Straits of Florida equally with Cuba. That means Repsol can drill a deepwater well about the same distance from Key West, Fla., as the Deepwater Horizon was from the Louisiana coast.
The rig headed for Cuban waters has five rams in its blowout preventer, each designed to help shut off an out-of-control well. The Deepwater Horizon’s blowout preventer had only four.
In the event of a spill in Cuban waters, many ships, equipment and personnel from the U.S. Gulf Coast could be prevented from helping because of the embargo. But that may be changing. A Treasury Department spokeswoman said some U.S. firms involved in oil cleanup have been issued licenses to travel to Cuba in case oil from the continuing spill hits beaches there.
Well, it is only natural that the Obama administration would make it easier to clean up any Cuban oil spills than US spills.
Cuba’s efforts to promote offshore oil exploration appear close to paying off. Cuba imports about 110,000 barrels of oil daily and produces an additional 52,000 barrels, mostly from onshore and shallow-water fields, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration…
Funny how even the Castros understand the need to drill for Cuba’s energy needs. Even when their good friend Hugo Chavez is literally drowning in the stuff.


This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 12:09 am. You can leave a response.