Russia to drill for oil off Cuba

Russia is to begin oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, after signing a deal with Cuba, says Cuban state media.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin signed four contracts securing exploration rights in Cuba's economic zone in the Gulf.

Havana says there may be some 20bn barrels of oil of its coast but the US puts that estimate at five billion.

Russia and Cuba have been working to revitalise relations, which cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia's Zarubezhneft oil concern will work alongside the Cubapetroleo monopoly in the deep waters of the Gulf.

"Every time I travel through the region, I come to Cuba to advance our joint economic-commercial projects, and I take every opportunity to communicate with my colleagues," Mr Sechin told local media.

Under the new agreement, Russia has also granted a loan of $150m to buy construction and agricultural equipment.

Havana imports more than half of its oil, mostly at a subsidised price from Venezuela.

Cuba's share of the Gulf of Mexico was established in 1977, when it signed treaties with the United States and Mexico.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) recently estimated that as much as 9bn barrels of oil and 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie within that zone, in the North Cuba Basin.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by gatorboi117


Are they going to be next to the invisible ones that China have there. They preached and preached that China was going to drill off of Cuba and everybody thought it was true they said it so much and there was never any agreement and never any plans for China to do it in the first place.

As if RUSSIA needs more OIL?? WTH This is just plain greed on their part. This is a different kind of cold war now.

reply to post by aleon1018


Well I wish the US would get greedy and start drilling for some of our oil.

reply to post by aleon1018


Welcome to Capitalism. Go Russia!

Originally posted by grapesofraft
reply to post by aleon1018

 

Well I wish the US would get greedy and start drilling for some of our oil.

The US probably does not drill for more oil because in reality...the US has billions upon billions of oil in reserves. Plus most people are under the impression that the majority of the oil the US gets comes from the middle east when in fact most of its oil comes from Canada. This is mostly to blame on the media for creating the hype about middle east oil for the gain of certain political figures of past and present. Hows it feel being lied to on a daily basis right on the TV. I know I hate it.