MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba opens to American oil companies

The Cuban government underlined this Sunday it has a “no objections at all” policy towards United States oil companies wishing to look for hydrocarbons in the island's Exclusive Economic Zone, EEZ in the Gulf of Mexico area, as long as it's done on “a mutual benefit basis”.

"The government of Cuba wishes to express that it has no objections at all towards US oil companies wishing to participate in the exploration and drilling in our EEZ on a mutual benefit basis", read the headline published in the front page of the official newspaper Gramma.

This relation can be in similar terms to the "commercial exchanges between US farmers and food tradesmen with the Cuban government that have been going on for the last two years"

The official Gramma front page article was in response to international news indicating that Cuba is awarding licences for oil exploration and drilling in its Gulf of Mexico EEZ. One of those companies is the Spanish consortium Repsol-YPF that has rented a Norwegian oil platform at a daily cost of 200,000 US dollars.

"Our development plans, and particularly social programs, are not at all based in the possibility of discovering new energy sources in the mentioned area", continues the Gramma article, "these plans are based in our current performance, including the sustained growth of our oil and gas production, with proven reserves for tens of years".

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989 and ceased delivering subsidized oil, Cuba went on a crash exploration program and now has managed 80% self supply mostly in heavy oil.

The Cuban oil and gas program was developed in association with European and Canadian companies, particularly Sherrit Co. from Manitoba that since 1990 has jointly managed Cuban nickel mines.

Sherrit International, which is registered as a Cuban-Canadian association, recently created the Sherrit Power Corporation which will be involved in the reconstruction of the dilapidated country's energy grid and building new natural gas generating plants.