At the National Journal, Tom Risen writes about the “Cuban oil rush”, and speculates about the consequences of a major oil find in Cuba’s waters:
As President Obama re-examines the nation’s offshore oil drilling options, some observers are hoping one area, currently off limits, proves too tempting to overlook: Cuba.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated in 2004 that drilling efforts in Cuba’s territorial waters could yield at least 5 billion barrels of oil. Carol Graham, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institute, put the find in context as “equal to major fields in Alaska people want to drill.”
…
Small discoveries of heavy crude in recent years have led to a Cuban oil rush, with countries from across the world lining up to build rigs in Cuba’s territorial Gulf of Mexico waters.Yet companies have not begun drilling for fear of steep development costs. Cuba lacks advanced refineries to produce its heavy crude, along with industrial oil expertise to use them. The operations would be even more expensive because the embargo restricts the involvement of refineries, shipping and experienced personnel from America. Saunders advocated American involvement for fear that inadequate Cuban regulations and limited drilling experience by the countries that have signed contracts, such as Vietnam, could result in accidents that pollute the nearby Florida Keys.
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[Photo: Peter Smithson.]
