US and Cuba attempt to close gap

Forerunner: the semi-submersible Scarabeo 9 is working off Cuba

Reuters/Keppel Offshore & Marine

By TOM DARIN LISKEY Houston

 02 March 2012 01:54 GMT

THE US and Cuba, among other regional nations including Mexico, have held a series of talks that could pave the way for them to co-ordinate oil spill containment efforts as drilling activity accelerates in the post-Macondo Gulf of Mexico. 

Industry sources and regulators confirmed that regional delegates have made inroads in discussing potential containment initiatives despite Washington’s decades-old economic embargo against communist-led Cuba.  

Concerns about an oil spill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico near the Florida straight shot to the public’s attention as a result of Repsol’s recent exploration foray in Cuba’s 112,000 square kilometers exclusive economic zone.

Repsol’s well — Jaguey — is drilling in the little-explored North Cuba basin. The well is the first of about six that will be drilled in Cuba’s offshore in the coming years. “This is very…

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