ESTUDIO DEL SEDIMENTO SUPERFICIAL DEL LECHO MARINO FRENTE A LA COSTA NOROCCIDENTAL DE CUBA, EN EL ESTRECHO DE LA FLORIDA

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ESTUDIO DEL SEDIMENTO SUPERFICIAL DEL LECHO MARINO FRENTE A LA COSTA NOROCCIDENTAL DE CUBA, EN EL ESTRECHO DE LA FLORIDA

Must-Read: Cuba's Oil Bust

capitolhillcubans

By Mary Anastasia O'Grady in The Wall Street Journal:

Remember all the hype about Cuba drilling for oil in Caribbean waters and American companies missing out on the bonanza because of the U.S. embargo? Well, like all the other Cuban get-rich-quick schemes of the past 50 years, this one seems to have flopped too.

Last week, Florida's Sun Sentinel reported that "after spending nearly $700 million during a decade, energy companies from around the world have all but abandoned their search for oil in deep waters off the north coast of Cuba near Florida." Separately, CubaStandard.com reported on Friday that "the shallow-water drilling platform used by Russian oil company OAO Zarubezhneft will leave Cuban waters June 1, to be redeployed to Asia."

According to the Sun Sentinel story, Jorge Piñon, an oil-industry guru who had been cheering Cuba's exploration attempts, said "Companies are saying, 'We cannot spend any more capital on this high-risk exploration. We'd rather go to Brazil; we'd rather go to Angola; we'd rather go to other places in the world where the technological and geological challenges are less.'"

It wouldn't be the first time the dictatorship thought it had found a short cut to wealth. In 1970 it put all its faith in the "ten-million ton harvest," which promised to get the nation off Soviet dependency by forcing every Cuban to work in the cane fields. It failed.

Then there was that cow, Ubre Blanca, literally "white udder" in Spanish. She was a cross between two breeds and in 1982 Cuba claimed that she produced a world-record of 24 gallons of milk in one day. When she died, in 1985, Fidel Castro instructed Cuba's genetic scientists to get to work on making more of her. Almost 30 years later Cuban researchers were still at it. In June 2002, the Telegraph reported that "Dr Jose Morales, the head of the White Udder cloning project, is confident that a breakthrough is imminent. 'We're very close,' he said. 'We have big things coming. This project is very important to Comandante Castro.'"

Then came promises of an oil boom and last week the predictable bust. The Brazilian state-owned Petrobras had given up on deep-sea drilling in Cuban waters in 2011. Repsol  gave up in May 2012. The deep water platform it was using was then passed to Malaysia's state-owned Petronas, which also came up empty. Venezuela's PdVSA had no luck either. In November Cuba announced that the rig that had been in use would be heading to Asia. Last week came the end of shallow-water drilling.

The loss to the regime is not just about the foreign exchange that oil implied. The threat of spills, as well as lost opportunity for American companies, were ways for Cuba to engage the U.S. and perhaps even get the embargo lifted without having to make any human-rights concessions. Some Democrats, whose party is more often found in opposition to oil exploration, tried to help. At a House subcommittee hearing in November 2011 on the matter, Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) argued that "companies like Exxon Mobil,  Chevron and the ConocoPhillips should be doing the "first drilling" in Cuban waters. "I would hope that the Majority's opposition to lifting the embargo against Fidel does not outweigh their fidelity to creating more jobs for American businesses and American workers in our own country."

For now Mr. Markey's dreams of helping the dictatorship are, at best, on hold. And Cuba remains a tropical backwater whose only claim to fame is its large collection of political prisoners.

Must-Read: Cuba's Oil Bust

Destacan fracasos de Cuba en su búsqueda de petroleo

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Destacan fracasos de Cuba en su búsqueda de petroleo

The Great Cuban Oil Myth is Over

capitolhillcubans

www.capitolhillcubans.com

Upon returning from her trip to Cuba this month, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) stated that one of her "top concerns" is oil drilling off the coast of Cuba.

(Note: Castor had four-days worth of meetings with Castro regime officials during her trip.  Yet, she couldn't -- or wouldn't -- make time to meet with pro-democracy leaders on the island. You decide.)

Castor said:

“I was very pleasantly surprised that the [Cubans] have been in productive, multilateral talks with the United States, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Mexico to the point where they have adopted many of the safety recommendations in America’s oil spill report.”

She then proceeded to give the sanctions ruse:

"They are prevented from importing or using any of the best equipment that is available. They are prevented, even, from importing any type of equipment that has American-made components.”

But apparently Castor didn't get the memo:

In today's Sun-Sentinel:

Companies abandon search for oil in Cuba's deep waters

Threat to Florida's environment reduced as drillers look elsewhere

After spending nearly $700 million during a decade, energy companies from around the world have all but abandoned their search for oil in deep waters off the north coast of Cuba near Florida, a blow to the Castro regime but a relief to environmentalists worried about a major oil spill.

Decisions by Spain-based Repsol and other companies to drill elsewhere greatly reduce the chances that a giant slick along the Cuban coast would ride ocean currents to South Florida, threatening its beaches, inlets, mangroves, reefs and multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

The Coast Guard remains prepared to contain, skim, burn or disperse a potential slick. And Cuban officials still yearn for a lucrative strike that would prop up its economy. A Russian company, Zarubezhneft, is drilling an exploratory well in shallower waters hugging the Cuban shoreline south of the Bahamas.

But though some oil has been found offshore, exploratory drilling in deep waters near currents that rush toward Florida has failed to reveal big deposits that would be commercially viable to extract, discouraging companies from pouring more money into the search.

The Great Cuban Oil Myth is Over

Castro's China Bubble Burst

Capitolhillcubans

Another one of the recent myths regarding Castro's Cuba was that China had become a major source of financing and investment.

We always held this was false, for this 2010 State Department cable (released by Wikileaks) had revealed the Chinese regime's frustrations in doing business with the Castro brothers.

Yet, that didn't stop Cuba "experts" from heralding the next year:

"In a major endorsement for Cuba’s economic reform project, the man expected to become China’s president in 2013 witnessed the signing of 13 agreements in Havana that include the billion-dollar expansion of a refinery, the extension of fresh loans, and an agreement to set a five-year cooperation plan."

Well, so much for that.

According to Reuters today, that bubble (like others before it) has burst:

"People involved in the expansion said more than two years ago China would build and finance the project, with the money backed by Venezuelan oil. But the deal has never taken wings.

Nothing has been disclosed publicly and the Chinese have been mostly silent on the matter. However, sources say China has never signed a final agreement due to questions ranging from Chavez' health to future oil and natural gas supplies to whether the project will be built by Chinese or Cuban workers.

Castro's China Bubble Burst

How Badly Does Castro Need Chavez, Pt. 2?

capitolhillcubans

Russia's deepwater off-shore drill

So badly, that he's willing to risk his tourism industry over the need to replace Chavez's energy subsidies, in case Chavismo fades with Chavez.

After three failed attempts at deepwater off-shore drilling -- in partnership with Spain's Repsol, Malaysia's Petronas and Venezuela's PDVSA -- the Castro regime is now going to attempt coastal drilling off its pristine beaches.

Thus, in partnership with Russia's Zarubezhneft, the Castro regime will attempt to drill right-off its popular beach resort of Cayo Santa Maria, in the Villa Clara province, which the Cuban military has spent over a decade developing.

Needless to say, if there was some sort of accident, Castro's tourism industry would be overwhelmingly affected, as would The Bahamas nearby. However, this coastal block, in the central part of the island, would have a near negligible effect on the U.S.

Tourism is the Castro regime's second largest source of revenue. The first is Chavez's generous subsidies, consisting of 115,000 barrels of oil per day.

Therefore, Castro needs Chavez's oil so badly, that he's willing to risk his second largest revenue stream to try to replace it -- and in the process, perhaps lose both.

How Badly Does Castro Need Chavez, Pt. 2?

¿Hallarán por fin petróleo los rusos en Cuba?

Cafe Fuerte

Por Jorge Piñón*

La plataforma semisumergible Songa 
Mercur está ya en aguas cubanas.

El segundo capítulo en la exploración por hidrocarburos en aguas cubanas está en marcha luego de tres infructuosos intentos que determinaron la partida de la plataforma Scarabeo 9 de la isla.

La nueva inversión, a un costo de $126 millones de dólares, corre por cuenta de la compañía estatal rusa Zarubezhneft. Desde el pasado 15 de noviembre arribó a Cuba la semisumergible noruega-chipriota Songa Mercur, una plataforma de 19,980 toneladas, la cual puede perforar en aguas de hasta 1,200 pies de profundidad.

La búsqueda se concentrará en la concesión exploratoria Bloque L, en aguas marginales en el Viejo Canal de las Bahamas, al norte del Archipiélago Sabana-Camagüey (Jardines del Rey), que bordea las costas de las provincias de Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus y Ciego de Ávila.

Esa área forma parte del pliegue y cinturón de empuje de la Cuenca Norte de Cuba, donde el Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS) estima que existen unos 493 millones de barriles de petróleo por descubrir; y es adyacente a la Plataforma de las Bahamas, con estimados de 1,906 millones de barriles de petróleo.

Zona prometedora

El Bloque L le fue otorgado a Zarubezhneft en el 2009. La estatal rusa tiene como principal área de operaciones a Vietnam, donde junto a PetroVietnam opera el yacimiento costa afuera Bach Ho (Tigre Blanco). Aunque en declive, el Tigre Blanco aun representa la mitad de la producción nacional vietnamita.

No es la primera vez que compañías internacionales exploran en el archipiélago Sabana-Camagüey. En 1998 la entonces subsidiaria internacional de Petrobras, Braspetro, perforó unos pozos en aguas al norte de Cayo Coco y Cayo Felipe sin resultados positivos. 

Pero lo que hace realmente prometedora a esta zona es que al sur de la Isla Andros la compañía Bahamas Petroleum (BPC) tiene la concesión de los bloques Bain, Cooper y Donaldson, al este de Cayo Sal, adyacentes a la línea de demarcación de la Zona Económica Exclusiva (ZEE) de Cuba con Bahamas.

Los reservorios de esa zona pueden ser transfronterizos, de ahí el reciente acuerdo establecido entre Cuba y Bahamas, el cual entró en efecto el 12 de marzo del 2012. Los estudios sísmicos de  BPC indican un potencial de alrededor de 1,500 millones de barriles de petróleo por descubrir en sus concesiones en aguas de las Bahamas.

Zarubezhneft contrato la Songa Mercur (registrada en las Islas Marshall) por un período de 325 días a un costo de $88 millones. Esta plataforma fue construida por los astilleros rusos Vybord en 1989, modernizada en Galveston, Texas, en el 2006 y recientemente certificada en Trinidad y Tobago, donde modernizó parte de su anticuado equipamiento.

La operación de la Songa Mercur no entra en conflicto con las restricciones del embargo, que limita el uso tecnológico a compañías y equipos con intereses en Estados Unidos. Zarubezhneft -cuyo único accionista es el gobierno ruso- no tiene vínculos en EEUU y la plataforma no infringe las regulaciones del embargo, ya que menos del 10 por ciento de sus piezas o artefactos son de origen estadounidense.

A la cuarta, ¿la vencida?

Se trata, en suma, del cuarto intento exploratorio en aguas cubanas tras el fiasco de la Scarabeo 9, operada en tres bloques distintos del noroeste por la española Repsol, PC Gulf (Petronas de Malasia) y el conglomerado ruso Gazprom Neft, y la estatal venezolana PDVSA.

Los primeros resultados de la operación deberán conocerse en mayo del 2013 y las autoridades rusas hablan con optimismo del asunto. El presidente de la junta directiva de Zarubezhneft, Nikolai Brunich, viajó a Cuba el pasado mes formando parte de una delegación rusa de alto nivel que visitó la plataforma Songa Mercur tras su arribo a la isla.

Sería muy buena noticia si Zarubezhneft encuentra petróleo en Cuba.

El fracaso de las exploraciones de la Scarabeo 9 han dejado indiscutiblemente un vacío de credibilidad para las búsquedas inmediatas en la ZEE. Los resultados han puesto en solfa los cálculos del USGS, cuyo estudio del 2004 evaluó en 4,600 millones de barriles de petróleo y 9.8 billones de pies cúbicos de gas natural el potencial de la cuenca norte de Cuba.

Los estimados de Cuba fueron mucho más cuantiosos y alcanzan los 20,000 millones de barriles.

Por eso, reanimar el proyecto petrolero cubano resulta estratégico para los objetivos económicos y las alternativas energéticas del país.

-------------------------------------

* Director Asociado del Programa de Energía para América Latina y el Caribe del Centro sobre Energía Internacional y Política Ambiental de la Universidad de Texas en Austin. Fue presidente de Amoco Oil de México y presidente de Amoco Oil Latinoamérica.

¿Hallarán por fin petróleo los rusos en Cuba?

Cuba: Estatal rusa invierte 3 billones en prospeccion petrolera [Video]

Leer  Aqui >>  y Aqui >>

Cuba: Estatal rusa invierte 3 billones en prospeccion petrolera [Video]

Plataforma petrolera abandona Cuba tras fracaso en exploración

AP/ Por Jeff Franks

LA HABANA (Reuters) - La plataforma petrolera Scarabeo 9, que fracasó en los intentos de Cuba por abrir una nueva era en la producción de crudo en su zona del Golfo de México, dejó la isla el miércoles, llevándose consigo las expectativas del Gobierno comunista de obtener a corto plazo su independencia energética.

La estructura, diseñada para operar a hasta 12.000 pies de profundidad (3.650 metros), se utilizó para perforar sin éxito tres pozos en el mar cerca de la costa norte y oeste de Cuba.

Cuba tenía la esperanza de aprovechar sus yacimientos marinos en aguas profundas, donde dice que podría tener unos 20.000 millones de barriles de petróleo, y poner fin a la dependencia energética que tiene de Venezuela, un aliado socialista que le envía unos 115.000 barriles de petróleo diarios.

Un consorcio liderado por la petrolera española Repsol, quien contrato a la Scarabeo 9, perforó el primer pozo que resultó seco la pasada primavera boreal. Luego perforaron pozos sin éxito la petrolera malasia Petronas -en colaboración con la rusa Gazprom Neft- y la venezolana PDVSA.

Repsol y Petronas dijeron que encontraron una superficie de roca muy dura que frenó la perforación y, en el caso de Petronas, se le hizo imposible producir los hidrocarburos que habían encontrado.

La petrolera de Malasia continúa haciendo trabajos sísmicos en 3D para la búsqueda de yacimientos, pero Repsol se va de la isla después de 12 años.

Jorge Piñón, experto en petróleo de la Universidad de Texas, dijo que podría pasar una década o más antes de que otra petrolera explora en aguas profundas cubanas.

El especialista dijo que las dificultades geológicas encontradas por Repsol y Petronas son desalentadoras, así como el hecho de que las empresas deben sortear las hostiles relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos. 

Plataforma petrolera abandona Cuba tras fracaso en exploración

Cuba Puts Oil Dreams on Hold as Rig Sets Sails

Foxnews. com

SUMMARY

An exploratory well sunk early this year by Spanish company Repsol turned out to be commercially nonviable. After Repsol declined an option to try again, the Scarabeo passed to a group led by Malaysia's Petronas, which drilled its own dud. Cuban officials announced Nov. 2 that Venezuela's PDVSA had also missed the mark.

The only rig in existence that can drill in deep waters off Cuba is preparing to sail away from the island, officials said Tuesday, after the third exploratory well sunk this year proved nonviable in a blow to government hopes of an oil bonanza.

While production was always years off even in the event of a big discovery, analysts said the Scarabeo-9's imminent departure means Havana's dreams of injecting petrodollars into a struggling economy will be on hold indefinitely.

"Bottom line: This chapter is finished. Close the book, put it on the shelf," said Jorge Piñon, a Latin America oil expert at the University of Texas' Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. "But do not discard. Maybe there is a good ending to this story ... someday."

Geological surveys indicate that between 5 billion and 9 billion barrels of oil may lie in deep waters off Cuban shores, but finding it has turned out to be trickier than officials hoped.

The Scarabeo-9, a 380-foot-long (115-meter), semisubmersible behemoth that leases out for prices approaching a half-million dollars a day, steamed all the way from Asia at tremendous cost to arrive in Cuba in January.

That was the only way companies could avoid sanctions under Washington's 50-year-old embargo against Cuba. The Scarabeo is the only rig of its kind built with less than 10 percent American parts — an extreme rarity in an industry where U.S. technologies play a major role.

An exploratory well sunk early this year by Spanish company Repsol turned out to be commercially nonviable. After Repsol declined an option to try again, the Scarabeo passed to a group led by Malaysia's Petronas, which drilled its own dud. Cuban officials announced Nov. 2 that Venezuela's PDVSA had also missed the mark.

For this baseball-mad nation, it was strike three.

Cuba's Ministry of Basic Industry, which oversees oil matters, confirmed Tuesday that the rig is on its way out, with no word on when it might return.

"The Scarabeo-9 will leave Cuba soon," it said in a brief statement emailed to The Associated Press.

It referred questions about the platform's destination to owner Saipem of Italy. Saipem's parent company Eni declined to comment, but various reports have had it bound for Africa or Brazil.

Oil's existence off Cuba is not in doubt. Russian company Zarubezhneft is contracted to use a different rig to drill in shallower waters off Cayo Coco, a key Cuban tourist destination, later this month.

But the more promising deposits lie in the deep waters of the west.

The only way to get at them is to bring back the Scarabeo or build an entirely new rig, and the three failed holes plus the ongoing hassle of avoiding sanctions from the U.S. embargo will likely make companies think twice.

Piñon noted that the Repsol and Petronas wells were not dry holes, only that exploiting the oil there was not currently commercially viable due to the structure of the ocean floor and the porosity of the rock.

"If oil continues at over $100 and if the industry continues to learn and develop new technologies, they could probably come back to Cuba ... and go for a second round," he said.

Cuban drilling in the Gulf of Mexico had raised fears in the United States that a big spill could slick U.S. shores from the Keys to the Carolinas.

It also attracted heated criticism from anti-Castro exiles in Florida's Cuban-American community.

"The (U.S.) administration must finally wake up and see the truth that an oil rich Castro regime is not in our interests," Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a recent statement.

Some cited Cuban oil exploration to argue for strengthening the embargo, which bans U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba and threatens sanctions against foreign firms if they don't play by its rules.

Others said it demonstrated the opposite: a need to ease the embargo so U.S. companies could more smoothly participate in disaster response to any spill.

Cuba has long campaigned for an end to the embargo, which remains in place despite 21 consecutive U.N. votes against it — most recently on Tuesday when the world's nations voted 188-3 to condemn the sanctions

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/13/cuba-puts-oil-dreams-on-hold-as-rig-sets-sails/#ixzz2CAwnFK90

Cuba Puts Oil Dreams on Hold as Rig Sets Sails

Plataforma petrolera se retirará pronto de Cuba

Terra/ Peter Orsi

La única plataforma petrolera que podía realizar perforación en aguas profundas de Cuba se retirará pronto, luego de tres intentos fallidos de encontrar crudo en pozos de exploración, informaron funcionarios el martes.

La partida inminente de la plataforma Scarabeo-9 representaría un golpe para las esperanzas del gobierno acerca de una bonanza petrolera. Distintos analistas consideran que su retiro dejará sin cristalizar por tiempo indefinido el sueño cubano de encontrar yacimientos petroleros grandes y viables para inyectar dólares que apuntalen su economía.

"En conclusión: este capítulo se ha terminado, hay que cerrar el libro y guardarlo en un estante", consideró Jorge Piñón, analista del Centro de Política Internacional sobre Energía y Medio Ambiente, de la Universidad de Texas, quien se especializa en la industria petrolera latinoamericana. "Pero no hay que descartar esto. Tal vez haya un final feliz de esta historia... algún día".

Distintas investigaciones geológicas indican que habría entre 5.000 y 9.000 millones de barriles de petróleo en aguas profundas frente a las costas cubanas. Pero encontrar esas reservas ha resultado mucho más difícil de lo esperado.

La Scarabeo-9, una gigante semisumergible de 115 metros (380 pies) de largo, que se arrienda por cerca de 500.000 dólares diarios, navegó desde Asia, a un costo tremendo, para llegar en enero a Cuba.

Menos del 10% de los componentes de la plataforma Scarabeo se fabricó en Estados Unidos, lo que constituía su principal peculiaridad y la razón para un traslado tan largo. Una proporción mayor habría desencadenado sanciones contra las empresas involucradas en su operación en Cuba, con base en el embargo económico impuesto hace 50 años por Estados Unidos a la isla.

Un pozo de exploración perforado a comienzos de este año por la empresa española Repsol no resultaba viable en el aspecto comercial. Después de que Repsol rechazó una opción para realizar un nuevo intento, la Scarabeo pasó a manos de un grupo encabezado por la malaya Petronas, que hizo su propia perforación fallida. El 2 de noviembre, las autoridades cubanas informaron que tampoco la venezolana PDVSA tuvo éxito.

Fue el tercer strike para un país que adora el béisbol.

El Ministerio de la Industria Básica de Cuba, que supervisa los asuntos petroleros, confirmó el martes que han concluido las labores con la plataforma en la zona.

"La plataforma Scarabeo-9 saldrá próximamente de Cuba", anunció la dependencia en un escueto comunicado recibido por The Associated Press, el cual no informó cuándo podría regresar esta instalación.

El Ministerio señaló que las preguntas sobre el destino de la plataforma deben hacerse a su dueña Saipem, en Italia. Eni, la compañía que controla Saipem, se negó a emitir declaraciones, pero varios reportes señalan que la plataforma se dirigirá a Brasil o Africa.

No está en duda la existencia de petróleo en Cuba. La compañía rusa Zarubezhneft ha sido contratada para usar una plataforma diferente con el objetivo de perforar en aguas menos profundas frente a Cayo Coco, un destino turístico cubano, a finales de este mes.

Pero la mayor promesa de yacimientos está en las aguas del occidente, más profundas.

La única forma de llegar a esos yacimientos es traer de vuelta a la Scarabeo o construir una plataforma nueva. Las tres perforaciones fallidas, además de los esfuerzos que deben hacerse para evitar las sanciones estadounidenses, harán probablemente que muchas compañías se lo piensen dos veces antes de invertir.

Piñón destacó que los pozos de Repsol y Petronas sí tenían petróleo, pero su explotación no era viable en la actualidad, por la estructura del suelo oceánico y la porosidad de la roca.

"Si el petróleo continúa por encima de los 100 dólares, y si la industria sigue desarrollando nuevas tecnologías, se podría regresar a Cuba... para una segunda ronda", opinó.

La perforación cubana en el Golfo de México ha generado temores en Estados Unidos acerca de que un derrame pudiera contaminar las costas norteamericanas, desde los cayos de la Florida hasta las Carolinas.

Además, los proyectos han desatado críticas de los exiliados anticastristas en Florida.

Algunos mencionaron que estas obras de perforación constituían un motivo para endurecer el embargo, que prohíbe a las empresas estadounidenses hacer negocios con Cuba y amenaza con sancionar a grupos extranjeros si no acatan las reglas impuestas por Washington.

Desde hace décadas, Cuba realiza una campaña para que se levante el embargo, que sigue en pie pese a 21 votaciones consecutivas en su contra en el seno de la ONU. La más reciente se presentó el martes, cuando las naciones del mundo votaron por 188-3 para condenar las sanciones.

Plataforma petrolera se retirará pronto de Cuba

Rusia implementará plan B en busca de elusivo petróleo cubano

Rolando Cartaya/ martinoticias.com

noviembre 06, 2012

Coincidiendo con la firma este lunes en La Habana de un acuerdo ruso-cubano para fortalecer la colaboración en sectores clave, la publicación digital Global Post informa que más de 20 años después de que Rusia pusiera fin al suministro de petróleo subsidiado a la isla, Moscú vuelve al rescate energético de la Revolución de Fidel Castro.

Citando a publicaciones de la industria del petróleo, Global Post advierte que, tras arrendar la plataforma semi-sumergible Songa Mercur, de propiedad noruega, Rusia podría comenzar este mes sus tareas de prospección en los bloques de exploración de la Zona Económica Exclusiva de Cuba en el golfo de México que le fueron concedidos frente a las costas de Villa Clara y Ciego de Ávila. Sólo que más cerca de la orilla.

A diferencia de la Scarabeo 9 construida en China, y utilizada por varias compañías extranjeras para explorar la zona cubana a casi 4 mil metros de profundidad, la Songa Mercur fue diseñada para trabajar a unos 400 metros bajo la superficie del mar. La empresa estatal rusa Zarubezhneft contrató la perforadora noruega a un costo de 88 millones de dólares.

La Songa Mercur fue construida en la antigua Unión Soviética en 1989. Pero Global Post cita a Jorge Piñón, experto de la Universidad de Texas en la exploración petrolera cubana, quien señala que el complejo fue reforzado y modernizado en 2006 en Galveston, Texas, después de haber sido adquirido de una empresa mexicana por la compañía noruega Songa SE Offshore.

Ello implica que a diferencia de la Scarabeo 9, Songa Mercur está repleta de tecnología de EE.UU., incluyendo cinco generadores Caterpillar, motores General Electric para bombas de lodo, y el equipo de cimentación fabricado por Halliburton. El especialista anticipa que eso probablemente dejará al operador ruso Zarubezhneft en violación de las sanciones de Estados Unidos.

El embargo sólo exime de tratos con Cuba a tecnologías que tengan 10 por ciento o menos de componentes estadounidenses.

El diario digital apunta que La Habana recibe actualmente alrededor de dos terceras partes de su combustible de su aliado socialista Hugo Chávez, pero el cáncer que padece el presidente venezolano le ha compulsado a buscar alternativas.

Zarubezhneft abrió a mediados del 2010 una oficina de operaciones en La Habana, con el fin de incrementar las producciones de petróleo y gas natural en los próximos años.
    
En noviembre de 2009 los gobiernos de Cuba y Rusia firmaron cuatro contratos de asociación para la exploración a riesgo, tanto en tierra como en el mar, encaminados a  la extracción de petróleo en la isla.
    
Los acuerdos permiten operaciones de la empresa estatal rusa por 25 años en bloques ubicados frente a las provincias cubanas de Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara y Ciego de Avila.

En el ámbito de las preocupaciones ambientales que suscita el proyecto ruso-cubano, Lee Hunt, ex presidente de la Asociación Internacional de Contratistas de Perforación, con sede en Houston, consideró que el área en que se concentrará la empresa rusa debe presentar una amenaza menor a las playas de Estados Unidos en caso de un derrame.

Hunt señaló a Global Post que la prospección en aguas poco profundas no elimina el riesgo, pero que las corrientes oceánicas en la zona probablemente se llevarían  el crudo lejos de las costas estadounidenses.

Durante una visita a La Habana del ministro ruso de Industria y Comercio, Denis Manturov, Cuba y Rusia firmaron el lunes un acuerdo para fortalecer la colaboración económico-comercial y científico-técnica en el período 2012-2020.

Según los medios oficiales “el convenio persigue el objetivo común de fortalecer, profundizar y ampliar el intercambio mercantil, las inversiones y los vínculos en sectores clave, entre ellos industria, transporte, agricultura, níquel, finanzas, energética, cultura y educación”.

Moscú, que durante tres décadas fue el principal socio económico de la isla, ocupa ahora el noveno lugar entre los países de mayor intercambio comercial con Cuba, el cual registró un valor de 224 millones de dólares en 2011.

Rusia implementará plan B en busca de elusivo petróleo cubano

No encuentran petroleo en 1er pozo CUPET-PDVSA [3er fracaso]

nota: este es el tercer intento fallido por encontrar crudo comercializable en la zona economica exclusiva de cuba en el golfo de mexico. anteriormente resultaron fallidas las perforaciones de repsol y petronas.
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NOTA INFORMATIVA

El pasado día 26 de octubre finalizaron las actividades del pozo exploratorio Cabo de San Antonio 1X, según el contrato suscrito entre Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) y Cubapetróleo (CUPET) y se realizan los trabajos para su terminación segura.

Aunque este pozo no ofrece posibilidades de explotación comercial, los resultados obtenidos en la exploración permitirán orientar y ampliar las operaciones en los bloques de la Zona Económica Exclusiva de Cuba en el Golfo de México, comprendidos en el contrato suscrito entre ambas empresas.
La experiencia técnica y la valiosa información geológica obtenida, han contribuido a reafirmar la decisión de PDVSA de continuar su participación en la campaña exploratoria en aguas cubanas.

Cubapetróleo
La Habana, 1 de noviembre del 2012

No encuentran petroleo en 1er pozo CUPET-PDVSA [3er fracaso]

El retorno del chantaje petrolero cubano

la plataforma scarabeo 9 fondeada a pocas millas de las costas surenas de los estados unidos, constituye el verdadero acorozado del regimen cubano para lograr la virtual eliminacion del embargo comercial. para ello emplean el chantaje del posible derrame de petroleo que podria crear un cataclismo ecologico de proporciones superiores  al  producido por la explosion ocurrida en la deepwater horizon. al juego se apuntan cuanto idiota util anda por ahi, como deja constancia  Marti noticias >>. 

de lo que se trata es que las exploraciones cubanas si bien se realizan en las aguas que una propia administracion  estadounidense le obsequio a fidelito el maldito, deben ser consideradas como lo que son: una provocacion y una amenaza a la seguridad de los estados unidos. 

El retorno del chantaje petrolero cubano

Shell to Test Capturing of Carbon in Canada

New York Times (blog)/ By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

AP/ An oil sands mining operation near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

HOUSTON — In a bid to make oil sands production less polluting, Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday that it would go forward with the first carbon capture and storage project ever tried in the fields of western Canada.

The announcement of the Quest project after years of study comes just months before Washington will reconsider whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline to increase imports of heavy oil from the oil sands. Environmentalists have fought the project, arguing that refining and burning oil from the oil sands emit far more carbon than conventional oil.

The project, which is scheduled to begin operations by 2015, is intended to capture and permanently store underground more than a million tons of carbon dioxide a year, which Shell estimated was equivalent to taking 175,000 cars off the road. Carbon capture projects have lost favor in recent years because of concerns about their heavy costs, which have typically been subsidized by governments.

The Shell project, with an estimated cost of about 1.35 billion Canadian dollars ($1.36 billion), will be heavily subsidized by the Canadian federal government and the provincial government of Alberta, which together are putting in 865 million Canadian dollars (about $874 million) over more than a decade.

Shell said it was hoping to reduce the carbon emissions from a treatment plant in Scotford, outside Edmonton, that processes extra-heavy oil called bitumen so it can be shipped to refineries in the United States.

“We recognize that our growth requires that it be accompanied by improved environmental management,” said John Abbott, Shell’s executive vice president for heavy oil, at a news conference in Calgary, Alberta. “Quest is a very big part of that.”

Mr. Abbott said that Quest would reduce the emissions from the Scotford plant by 35 percent and demonstrate the technical viability of carbon capture and storage techniques. He added that it would help lead to wider application “through the energy industry and other sectors in the years to come.”

Canada is already the top source of imported oil for the United States and currently produces more than 1.7 million barrels a day of synthetic crude from oil sands. The country’s leaders hope to more than double oil sands production by 2025. To accomplish that, they need the Keystone XL pipeline — which would run to Gulf Coast refineries — to export more oil to the United States, or they must build an alternative pipelines to Canada’s western coast to export the crude to Asia. More >>

Shell to Test Capturing of Carbon in Canada

Venezuela confirma inicio de exploración petrolera en aguas profundas de Cuba

Lainformacion.com/

Lechería (Venezuela), 4 sep.- El ministro venezolano de Energía y Petróleo, Rafael Ramírez, confirmó hoy que la estatal Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) comenzó los trabajos de exploración en aguas profundas cubanas, pero evitó dar detalles sobre su marcha.

"Ya comenzó y cuando tengamos los resultados lo informaremos al país", respondió Ramírez consultado por periodistas sin precisar mayores detalles.

A comienzos de agosto pasado, la estatal Cubapetróleo (CUPET) informó de que PDVSA continuaría las perforaciones en aguas profundas de Cuba a pesar de los dos intentos fallidos de compañías extranjeras que operan en la zona en su búsqueda de un pozo explotable y comercialmente viable.

En ese entonces, Cubapetróleo informó de que la compañía malaya PC Gulf y la rusa Gazpromneft, en su turno para operar con la plataforma Scarabeo 9, habían encontrado un "sistema petrolero activo" a una profundidad de 4.666 metros pero sin cantidades significativas de gas y petróleo en la Zona Económica Exclusiva (ZEE) cubana del Golfo de México.

Agregó que la plataforma Scarabeo 9 sería traspasada "en los próximos días" a PDVSA "para iniciar la perforación del pozo de exploración Cabo de San Antonio 1", también en la ZEE cubana.

En mayo, la compañía española Repsol tampoco obtuvo resultados positivos en su exploración con esa plataforma.

La ZEE que Cuba tiene en aguas del Golfo de México está dividida en 59 bloques, de los que 22 están contratados por petroleras extranjeras.

Cuba calcula que las reservas de petróleo de las que dispone en su Zona Económica Exclusiva son de 20.000 millones de barriles, mientras que otras estimaciones sitúan la cifra entre 5.000 y 9.000 millones.

Venezuela confirma inicio de exploración petrolera en aguas profundas de Cuba

Russian Oil Drilling Off Cuba Is Delayed by Old Embargo

NYT/ ANDREW E. KRAMER

MOSCOW — A Russian oil company will delay drilling its first exploratory well off the northern coast of Cuba, about 180 miles from Florida, after apparently struggling to find a drilling rig that would not violate a United States embargo.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, right, spoke with Raúl Castro of Cuba near Moscow on Wednesday.

The Russian company, Zarubezhneft, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had planned to drill in August but now planned to start in November.

Finding rigs can be a challenge for oil companies operating in Cuba. To avoid violating the trade embargo the United States imposed on Cuba 50 years ago, rigs can have only a small portion of their parts manufactured in the United States.

Zarubezhneft, a small state-owned company, obtained the exploration rights to potential oil fields in the waters off Cuba three years ago. Last month, it obtained a rig from the Cyprus-based drilling operator, Songa Offshore.

Cuba produces little oil now, but petroleum experts say the country’s northern coastal waters could hold reserves, which may help revive the island’s economy and ease its dependence on oil imported from Venezuela.

Half a dozen companies have signed deals to work in Cuban waters on projects that concern United States authorities. Many of the projects would be close to the United States but beyond the reach of its safety regulators. Cuba’s maritime border is in some places 50 miles from the coast of the United States.

Zarubezhneft updated its plans during a visit from Raúl Castro, Cuba’s leader and the brother of Fidel Castro, who is on a tour of former Communist allies. Seeking money for Cuba, Castro met with President Vladimir V. Putin after visiting China and Vietnam.

Songa Offshore once operated from offices in Houston, but has since moved to Singapore and Cyprus, according to its Web site.

After it contracted for the Songa rig, Zarubezhneft hired a third-party auditing company to confirm that the machine had fewer than 10 percent United States-made parts, the Russian company said in a statement. The rig is on its way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Cuba.

The company plans to drill at a site called Block L near the Cuban coastal town of Cayo Santa Maria.

Russian Oil Drilling Off Cuba Is Delayed by Old Embargo

Russian for Cuba's oil

GlobalPost/

Working on an oil rig in Cuba. The island nation has not had much luck so far with quests for oil offshore. (Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)Añadir leyenda

HAVANA, Cuba — For 30 years, generous oil subsidies from Moscow kept the lights on for Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution. Until the Soviet Union went kaput.

Now, Russian state oil companies may be coming to Cuba’s rescue again.

Oil industry journals reported this week that a Soviet-built, Norwegian-owned drilling platform is headed for Cuban waters this summer, under contract with Moscow-based state company Zarubezhneft.

The company has hired the rig, called the Songa Mercur, at a cost of $88 million for nearly a year, with plans to begin drilling in November. That should be enough time to poke plenty of holes in search of Cuba’s elusive undersea oil fields, which are thought to hold billions of barrels of crude but have yet to yield a decent strike.

The rig’s arrival couldn’t come at a better time for the Castro government and its state oil company, CubaPetroleo. The state firm has signed multiple contracts in recent years with foreign producers looking to drill in Cuban waters.

Another drilling platform, the Scarabeo 9, has been working off the island’s north coast this year, but has come up dry, dealing a blow to Havana’s hopes for weaning the island off imported crude.

Russian for Cuba's oil

The Lure Of Cuban Energy Independence: One Twist After Another – Analysis

Elena Maffei, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs/

utne.com

On May 29 during a press conference presenting Repsol’s four-year strategic plan, the company’s president, Antonio Bufrau, announced that the Spanish oil giant will almost certainly stop prospecting for oil in Cuban territory after a costly well it drilled turned out to be dry. This recent disappointment parallels the 2004 finding by Repsol that established that its explorations on the northwest coast of the country would not yield commercially viable quantities of oil. After spending $150 USD million in explorations throughout the country, Repsol is likely to turn its attention to more profitable fields in countries such as Brazil and Angola.

With the conclusion of the Spanish company’s operations on the island, the Cuban dream for energy independence could vanish, especially considering that the leased platform Scarabeo 9,is the only one allowed to operate offshore in the Cuban Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), an area of 112 square kilometers in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Repsol’s initial plan was to move the platform to a different location unless another company stepped up to lease the oil rig, at a cost of $150,000 USD per day. The Spanish company, in consortium with Statoil of Norway and the Indian ONGC, held an option to drill another well in the waters of the Cuban EEZ. But Brufau was terse in rejecting the arrangement, stating that the company preferred to concentrate its search for oil in Angola and Brazil.

Unsurprisingly, Cuba does not want to abandon its quest for oil. In an official statement, the Cuban government affirmed that Repsol’s decision does not eliminate the potential of the Cuban EEZ. He asserted that the EEZ could eventually become one of the largest reservoirs of oil production worldwide, given the high estimates regarding the country’s yet to be discovered hydrocarbon reserves. A U.S. geological survey, for instance, projects a presence of approximately 5 billion barrels in oil reserves in the country.(1) In light of such figures, this dry well could be considered isolated and not totally symptomatic. Cuban oil expert at the University of Texas Jorge Piñón affirms that two unprofitable wells are not indicative of the presence or lack of oil deposits in Cuba.(2)

The press release by the Cuban government clarifies that the exploration will continue and that the semi-submerged platform Scarabeo 9 (previously utilized by Repsol) has now been moved to the Catoche 1X sector, located north of the province of Pinar del Rio. The Malaysian oil company Gulf PC is operating in the new drilling site in cooperation with the Russian company Gazpromneft. Once this drilling is completed, the Scarabeo 9 will be moved again, this time further to Cabo de San Antonio 1X, and another round of drilling will likely commence under the supervision of the state-owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela SA), which will hold the master lease on the platform.(3)

More >>

The Lure Of Cuban Energy Independence: One Twist After Another – Analysis

Second drilling rig scheduled to sail to Cuba

Semisub Songa Mercur

Offshore Magazine

Steve Marshall

 22 June 2012 07:44 GMT

Russian explorer Zarubezhneft has secured semi-submersible rig Songa Mercur for its upcoming drilling campaign off Cuba under a charter deal with Norwegian contractor Songa Offshore.

The rig has been fixed for a firm period of 325 days on a contract worth a minimum of around $88 million, including mobilisation costs, to yield an overall dayrate of $270,770.

However, Songa said in a bourse statement revenue from the deal may increase depending on the start date for rig operations and a possible extension of the drilling programme for well testing or other work.

The contract is due to start on 1 July when the semisub will be mobilised from Malaysia to Trinidad, where it will be moored at a standby rate until scheduled start of drilling in late November.

Zarubezhneft is among explorers taking up the chase for hydrocarbons off Cuba after Spanish player Repsol abandoned its abortive exploration bid following a recent dry well on the deep-water Jaguey prospect off the South American country.

The rig used for that well, Saipem’s Scarabeo 9, is now being employed by Malaysia’s Petronas and Russian explorer Gazprom Neft to drill a probe as part of a planned two-well campaign in Cuban waters, with results expected next month. PetroVietnam is also reported to be vying for a rig slot in Cuba.

Second drilling rig scheduled to sail to Cuba