Gulf of Mexico: Cuba eyes round
Cuba eyes round in Gulf of Mexico
Cuba's basic industries minister said his country expects new oil exploration to take place this year in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters.
"Our plan is that this year we should begin conducting the first new prospecting in the gulf," said Yadira Garcia in a statement broadcast over state television.
Garcia's remarks follow earlier ones by Julio Jimenez, the director general of Cuba's state-owned Cupet, who said the company intends to begin drilling 24 new oil wells this year to increase production.
"In 2009, Cupet has decided to increase its drilling with our own resources," Jimenez said over state television, adding that 16 of the wells will be completed this year.
Both statements follow an April 2008 announcement by Garcia that test drilling would resume this year in the gulf, where a number of foreign companies are carrying out seismic studies, said an Oil & Gas Journal report.
Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone off the country's northwestern coast is divided into 59 blocks covering an area of some 112,000 square kilometres.
In 2005, the US Geological Survey estimated that as much as 9.3 billion barrels of oil could lie off the island's northern coast, while Cuban geologists more than doubled that figure to 20 billion barrels last October.
Companies operating in the zone include Repsol, StatoilHydro, ONGC, Petronas, PDVSA, Petrovietnam, and Petrobras.
Exploration would see the resumption of test drilling that Repsol began in 2004 which, according to Cuban authorities, showed positive results even though the finds were not commercially viable.
International oil companies help Cuba produce 80,000 bpd of crude oil, meeting about 47% of the country's domestic needs. The remaining 53% of the domestic demand is met by Venezuela, which supplies 92,000 bpd of oil.