By Pierre Bertrand
February 10, 2012 12:54 AM GMT
Cuba's fledgling oil industry has for the first time dropped an offshore
rig into the waters off the Florida Keys, a move that has U.S. officials
and environmentalists warning that the island nation's energy ambitions
could come at the expense of the ecologically sensitive region at the
tip of the Florida Peninsula.
"Cuba cannot be trusted to provide even the bare essentials to its own
citizens and it certainly can't be trusted to oversee safe and
environmentally sound oil drilling only 90 miles off our pristine
Florida coast," said Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll in testimony
before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
Working with Spain's biggest oil company, Repsol, Cuba has placed an
exploratory well 30 miles off Havana, 5,600 feet below the ocean
surface. It's one of five wells planned in the region and is deeper than
BP's Macondo well that spilled millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of
Mexico in 2010. The well sits 56 miles away from the Keys. By contrast,
BP's well was 41 miles off the Lousiana coast. Cuban officials hope that
the oil produced offshore will fill a 100,000-barrel-a-day supply gap
currently covered by Venezuela.
Because of the well's location in the Florida Strait a spill or blowout,
like the one that occurred in the Gulf, would be an environmental
disaster of untold peril, said John Proni of Florida International
University, a scientist with the Atlantic Oceanography and
Meteorological Laboratory, a branch of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration.
Proni, who also testified before the maritime subcommittee, explained
that the Cuban rig sits dangerously close to the Gulf Stream current
system. Any leaked oil that gets into this whirlpool would reach U.S.
coastal waters quickly and threaten the "iconic Florida coral reef
system, important fisheries and breeding grounds, location of threatened
and endangered sea grass and coral, and habitat for rare and endangered
species," Proni said.
The drilling of the well is expected to take roughly two months.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement concluded last month
that the Cuban rig met U.S. standards after American offshore oil
drilling regulators boarded and reviewed the Spanish-operated equipment
before it reached Cuban waters. However, because the rig was not bound
for U.S. territory, nor contracted for exploration in the United States,
the regulators had no authority to influence Repsol's plans. The U.S.
has recently overhauled its offshore permitting processes and tightened
regulations -- and it is likely that these rules will continue to evolve
in the coming years. Since the U.S. and Cuba do not have diplomatic
relations, it will be impossible to continue to monitor this offshore
project even as the standards for operating rigs in coastal waters improve.
Oil spills in offshore projects are an increasingly common occurrence.
From the early 1970s through the 1990s there were only four a year in
U.S. waters. But between 2005 and 2010, there was an average of more
than 20 oil spills a year in coastal waters. So although Repsol has a
relatively good reputation for quality, the chance of a spill cannot be
discounted. If it occurs in this project, Cuba simply does not have the
capabilities or equipment to respond quickly enough to an accident
before it begins to compromise the waters around it, said Jorge Pinon, a
former president of Amoco Oil Latin America and an expert on Cuba's oil
industry. The BP well blowout required 5,000 vessels, three additional
rigs, submersibles, more than 100 aircraft and 30,000 emergency
responders to get under control.
"Cuba doesn't have these assets," said Pinon. "They will have to come
from the United States."
Because of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which restricts business
transactions and trade between the two countries, U.S. companies and
experts would not be permitted to respond to a Cuban offshore oil rig
accident. However, Pinon noted that the U.S. president could temporarily
lift the embargo to allow crews and first responders to participate in a
shutdown and recovery operation. The Spanish rig uses a U.S. blowout
preventer so replacement equipment could theoretically be sent in as well.
But the logistics of such a rescue effort would mar its effectiveness,
Pinon added. With so little routine communication and so much antagonism
between the two countries, it's hard to imagine how a plan could be
worked out quickly for who takes command of the many moving parts
involved in a cleanup. And there would be many questions to address
about whether U.S. spotter and oil dispersant planes could fly in Cuban
airspace, where rescue teams could operate and whether crews would need
visas. All of this could greatly delay the response and increase the
chance that the Florida Keys would be damaged, Pinon said.
Jennifer Diaz, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection, said the state is in the process of drafting a coastal oil
spill response plan. Two others for the region are being put together by
the U.S. Coast Guard.
Lt. Patrick Montgomery, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, which would
take the lead on any ocean cleanup, said it is always on the lookout for
oil spills. But in the event of a spill in Cuban territorial waters, the
Coast Guard's response powers are nil.
Montgomery said that under current rules crews can only clean up oil
that is spilled or drifts into U.S. and international waters. But since
the well is in Cuban territory, it will be the responsibility of Cuban
and Repsol authorities to shut down a malfunctioning well and prevent
any oil from leaking.
"We have in place contingency plans that adhere to the strictest
international standards and are confident that we have all the elements
in place to deal with potential threats," said Kristian Rix, a spokesman
for Repsol, who did not elaborate further. "Our diligence has been
rewarded by the positive comments and feedback received from the U.S.
Coast Guard during their inspection of the rig."
Rix added the company implemented two suggestions made by U.S.
regulators but did not elaborate.
Manuel Marrero of the Cuban Ministry of Basic Industry said on the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website that Cuba's environmental
regulations pertaining to oil drilling are "very strict and severe."
Companies involved in the drilling of offshore oil in Cuban waters will
be required to have equipment and a logistics center in the coastal town
of Mariel, located several miles outside Havana.
None of this is comforting to Frank Verrastro, senior VP and director of
the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Energy and National
Security Program, who put it succinctly: Cuba has never drilled for
deepwater oil before and "the expectation is [Cubans] don't have the
capability to handle [a large spill]."
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/296258/20120210/gulf-mexico-florida-coast-guard-cuba-oil.htm
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