Oil find off Cuba stokes fears in U.S.

Bush having his flightsuit dry-cleaned again?

We must stop Cuba before the smoking gun is really a mushroom cloud

Experts say the exact size of Cuba's offshore oil deposits is still in question, but the potential is impressive. A U.S. Geological Survey study estimates that a curving belt of ocean floor north of Cuba may contain at least 4.5 billion barrels of oil and nearly 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

In contrast, an area in U.S. waters about 200 miles west of Tampa just approved by Congress for drilling is believed to hold about 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Drilling under way

For impoverished Cuba, the oil prospects are dazzling, and Fidel Castro's government has wasted no time in pushing to develop the fields. The region has been divided into 59 exploration blocks, and Cuba has signed deals with foreign oil firms to begin drilling in earnest.

One well sunk by the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF has already found a small amount of the oil.

"But it was enough that Norway's Norsk Hydro acquired a 30 percent stake," said Jorge Pinon, a former oil company executive who is now a research associate at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. "Norsk Hydro wouldn't go to Cuba for political purposes. They are one of the best deepwater drilling companies in the world, and if they are going in it is likely this will be viable."

Cuba has signed other oil deals with firms from Venezuela, Indian, China and Canada, a clear sign that a Cuban oil boom is brewing. But Pinon says it will be several years before the offshore Cuban operations crank into high gear because of soaring demand around the world for the limited number of deepwater rigs.

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