• Wednesday, 16 May, 2012

US to inspect Cuba-bound rig

Inspection coming up: Coast Guard and BSEE to check out Repsol operation

SCANPIX/Donald Miralle/Getty Images/AFP

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Kathrine Schmidt , Kathrine Schmidt , Kathrine Schmidt , Kathrine Schmidt , Kathrine Schmidt

 06 January 2012 20:20 GMT

Within the week, US authorities expect to inspect a Chinese rig in Trinidad that is slated to begin drilling a well for Repsol off Cuba, a spokeswoman said Friday.

The Spanish explorer has invited the US Coast Guard and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to review the equipment for the project, which has stoked safety concerns about contamination off Florida and tensions on the decades-old trading embargo between the US and the communist island nation.

“The inspection is being conducted to protect the interests of the United States,” Department of the Interior spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said in an email to Upstream on Friday.

“Such actions are consistent with our ongoing efforts to minimize the possibility of a major oil spill.”

A “readout” will be issued at the conclusion of the process, Schwartz said.

The Scarabeo 9 rig, which was slated to arrive in Trinidad over the Christmas holiday, is slated to drill multiple wells for Cuba.

Critics have said the island nation, whose energy supply has been historically heavily supported by Venezuelan oil imports, is ill-prepared to handle the complexities of deepwater drilling.

But Cuban officials told attendees of the World Petroleum Congress last month that extensive contingency planning has been ongoing with reliance on international drilling standards.

Past regulatory head Michael Bromwich told a Congressional committee last month that the US has taken numerous precautions in the event a spill occurs and makes it into US waters, including using Repsol’s worst-case discharge data to model potential flows and setting up contracts with cleanup firms.

Repsol did not immediately return a request for an update on the process.

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