Russia's Zarubezhneft suspends search for oil in Cuba

Russia's Zarubezhneft suspends search for oil in Cuba

AFP



A Norwegian-owned drilling platform will depart Cuba for Vietnam this

week, after six months of exploration that so far has failed to yield

any oil, official media in Havana reported on Tuesday.

The state-run Agencia de Informacion National (AIN) said the drilling

work in Cuba will be suspended because of unspecified "geological

complications," and the start this month of the hurricane season, which

runs in the Caribbean through the end of November.

The drilling operation with the platform called Songa Mercur was taking

place near the central Cuban province of Ciego de Avila, about 600

kilometers (370 miles) east of Havana.

A new round of drilling is expected to get underway early next year, AIN

reported.

AIN reported that the Norwegian platform, which has been used by the

Russian firm Zarubezhneft to search for oil off Cuba's coast, will

depart on Thursday for Vietnam.

Zarubezhneft has been drilling the communist island's deepest offshore

well using the Norwegian semi-submersible platform, with cash-strapped

Cuba desperate to tap its potential offshore oil wealth.

Oil exploration has been seen as crucial for Havana, which produces

nearly half its oil from wells on land and in shallow water.

Cuba currently imports about 100,000 barrels of oil each day, under very

favorable terms, from its longtime ally Venezuela.

Some studies have estimated that there may be between five and nine

billion barrels of crude in ocean waters off the Cuban coast.

Officials in Havana say however that they have reason to believe the

amount could be as high as 20 billion -- enough to provide energy

sufficiency and much needed revenue for the communist island.



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