Cuban Oil Drilling Could
Put U.S. Embargo Over An Economic Barrel
By Keith Epstein kepstein@tampatrib.com
. Published Jan 18, 2005 in the Tampa
Bay Online.
WASHINGTON - Is Cuba on the verge of an
oil bonanza that could pump financial life
into Fidel Castro's regime and soften U.S.
trade policy toward the island?
If so, new U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez could
find himself at the intersection of conflicting
agendas - as a loyalist to President Bush,
who draws support from energy interests
as well as from anti-Castro Cubans, as a
hard-line refugee who fled the dictatorship,
and as a member of a Senate committee that
weighs energy development against environmental
protection.
Martinez dismisses the possibility.
"It's not necessarily a big find,''
the Florida Republican said last week about
reports of oil discovered in Cuba-controlled
waters.
And even if it is, he said, "I don't
think there's any likelihood there'd be
any successful pressure on the administration
to change things.''
Martinez, the nation's first Cuban-American
senator, said he would oppose any relaxation
of trade barriers with his native country.
"I definitely would not like to see
it,'' he said.
Other Cuba watchers, however, said the
hunt for oil barely 100 miles off Florida's
coastline - depending on the quality and
quantity of the find - could fuel the easing
of barriers by the end of Bush's second
term.
Two Canadian energy companies have discovered
what Castro claims is 100 million barrels
of oil in waters just off the island's northwestern
shores.
Wildcatters from Canada and Spain have
been busy in the region where, by law, U.S.
energy companies cannot drill, explore or
even help.
The explorers aren't saying much, at least
publicly. But if further work yields results,
"the cry from the American Petroleum
Institute and other actors in Washington
will be very loud,'' predicted Jonathan
Benjamin Alvarado, a Cuba energy specialist
and political science professor at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha.
"The Americans won't want to be on
the sidelines as French, Spanish and Canadian
investors descend on Cuba,'' he said. "If
different oil companies like Halliburton
make a big enough beef, the president will
listen - maybe not until the final third
of his term, but he will.''
During decades of prohibitions against
U.S. trade, Cuba has enlisted trading partners
from Argentina to Monaco on projects that
include mining and biotechnology.
Many U.S. companies dislike being deprived
of the nearby market. And increasingly,
Americans have been undermining the ironclad
intent of the original embargo.
Four years ago, Congress allowed the sale
of agricultural products to Cuba. Last month,
delegations from Alabama, Louisiana and
Maine toured the island in an attempt to
encourage the Castro government to buy their
agricultural products.
The issue is especially sensitive in Florida,
where most Cuban-Americans support bans
on business with Castro - and support Republican
politicians such as Bush and Martinez.
In Florida, even Democrats including U.S.
Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa are careful about
their positions. Davis has not opposed the
trade embargo, for instance, even as he
has called for "dialogue'' and lesser
restrictions on travel to Cuba.
Martinez rejected speculation that oil
could be the next U.S. trade exception.
"Sen. Martinez may well be correct
right now,'' said John Kavulich, president
of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.
"But then, who would have expected
the tectonic plate shift in public opinion
subsequent to allowing food and agriculture
purchases in 2001?
"The Bush administration has done
everything it can, from the regulatory standpoint
to the bully pulpit, to make food and ag
exports difficult. But despite everything,
exports continue and the bipartisan interest
level in Congress is high.''
Martinez, as a member of the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee, said his
goals include not only maintaining the embargo
but protecting Florida waters.
Oil drilling off Cuba "could be potentially
a pollution threat to the coast of Florida,''
he said. "We've been very vigilant
in Florida to maintain the pristine nature
of our coastline and not allow drilling.
It's troubling when a neighboring state
might do it.''
Cuba lost Soviet-subsidized oil imports
in 1990, and it depends heavily on Venezuela
for fuel.
One of the Canadian companies involved,
Sherritt International, the largest foreign
oil producer in Cuba, confirmed it had demonstrated
a 1,300-barrel-per-day find near Santa Cruz
del Norte.
Repsol YPF of Spain, meanwhile, is drilling
in a separate, 4,132-square-mile tract.
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists
listed the Repsol find as among the most
"significant discoveries'' worldwide
in 2004.
Reporter Keith Epstein
can be reached at (202) 662-7673.
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