Drill, Cuba, Drill

[Tony]

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/7910/Drill-Cuba-Drill

A brand new, top of the line, Italian owned and Chinese-made semisubmersible rig is on its way to Cuba to start drilling several exploratory wells this year once hurricane season is over. Its target are deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico just a few dozen miles from Florida that could hold proven oil reserves believed to be at least as big as Oman’s and perhaps comparable to those of Brazil. The latter are massive.

Cuban drilling should be a US bipartisan no-brainer. Democrats want the embargo softened and Republicans want to give oil companies more access to offshore oil. And all will agree a lot of new production bordering the US would be welcome news, especially if American oil companies are eventually allowed to take a stake and if environmental safeguards against spills are improved in the process.

Yet there is a great deal of noise coming from Congress compounded by some White House acquiescence that threatens safe oil exploration in Cuban waters. The argument is the Castro regime will be propped up if oil is found and the US should impede anything that might make it more powerful.

You would think that if anything would give Republicans a reason to shift their position on Cuba, it would be the lure of opening up more real estate to American oil companies.

 

[Random]

America’s Cuba policy is not based on money, oil, or communism. It is based on electoral college math, Cuban immigrants and Florida.

 

[hgc]

America’s Cuba policy is not based on money, oil, or communism. It is based on electoral college math, Cuban immigrants and Florida.

And their interests are strictly in recovering property* lost 50 years ago to Castro's regime. We are basing our foreign policy toward Cuba on the narrowest of interests.

* I don't wish to denigrate the value of the claims of Cuban ex-pats (or Cubans in-country, for that matter) for State-confiscated property. I just don't think it's a sensible basis for foreign policy.

 

[WildCat]

America’s Cuba policy is not based on money, oil, or communism. It is based on electoral college math, Cuban immigrants and Florida.

Yep. The 2000 election guaranteed that nothing would change wrt Cuba policy barring a seas change in Florida demographics.

 

[Tricky]

Just throwing in a geological opinion, there probably is some oil off the coast of Cuba, but considering the basin setting (carbonate platform) the lack of reservoir (few massive sandstones) the lack of burial history (sedimentation in that area of the world is very slow) it is unlikely that Cuba is going to find enough oil to make them "rich". Plus, they'll have to pay a bundle to the Italian and Chinese to actually find and produce the oil, since Cuba has no significant drilling and oil technology companies of their own.

This is a tempest in a teabarrel.

 

[Beerina]

It's similar to how Venezuela seized private operations, and is riding high until they degrade and collapse, or he pays the west up the wazoo to keep them running.

Nobody works hard to prop up a dictator unless they hemorrhage cash.