Drilling for black gold:Spain's Repsol-YPF helps Cuba search the waters of

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Mon, Jun. 28, 2004

Drilling for black gold

Spain's Repsol-YPF helps Cuba search the waters off its coast for oil

BY LARRY LUXNER

Special to The Herald


HAVANA -- The Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF has begun drilling for oil in waters 18 miles off Cuba's northwestern coast in an effort to reduce Havana's dependence on imports.

Although the decades-old U.S. trade embargo precludes the involvement of U.S. oil companies in the Cuban industry, oil officials in Cuba say they would be open to the possibility.

''We are open to U.S. oil companies interested in exploration, production and services,'' Juan Fleites, vice president of the state-run Cubapetroleo told U.S. executives at a recent conference in Havana.
(snip)

Fleites said 16 foreign oil companies, mostly from Canada, France and Spain, have already signed contracts to prospect and drill to a depth of between 1,000 and 3,000 meters.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/9020435.htm
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[oneighty]

1. Bomb

Barcelona. How is it they can drill for oil in defiance of the Monroe Doctrine?

180

[Massacure]

2. The U.S. promised to not meddle in Europe

As long as Europe didn't meddle in the U.S.

Obviously we all know that this is no longer the case.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. It's A Big Wide Petrochemical World Out There

I'd heard that foreign petroleum companies were drilling off Cuba's coasts over a year ago. I'd have thought that the Spaniards might have been edged out by at least one Brazilian oil drilling outfit.

I've already seen oil drilling on mainland Cuba. I remember seeing pump jacks at work near Moron back in 2003.

The oil from Cuba is supposed to be "sour," relatively high in sulfur content, but still quite usable.

What the Boosh regime and their Miami and New Jersey admirers fail to accept is that it's a big wide petrochemical world out there and, unlike back in the 1950's and 1960's, there are dozens of firms with qualified people in many countries capable of exploring and drilling for oil no matter how loudly the hard right Cuban exile Sound Machine protests.

Whatever one's opinion about Fidel's economic and political policies, the oil drillers are showing how increasingly ridiculous and ineffectual the US trade embargo against Cuba is proving to be.