Russia plunges into Cuban oil exploration

Russia plunges into Cuban oil exploration

More drilling raises environmental alarms in Florida

By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau

5:38 p.m. EDT, June 14, 2014



WASHINGTON—

Russia has agreed to plunge into the search for oil in deep waters

between the shores of Cuba and Florida, renewing fears of a major oil

spill and the potential for environmental disaster.



With President Vladimir Putin looking on, Russian companies Rosneft and

Zarubezhneft signed an energy agreement with Cuba late last month to

explore offshore oil deposits. The agreement also calls for Rosneft to

build a base at the Cuban port of Mariel to relay equipment and

personnel to offshore rigs, linked by pipelines and a helicopter pad.



The drilling area north of Havana straddles the Gulf Stream, a powerful

ocean current that rushes north to the Florida coast. Oceanographers

warn that an oil slick caused by a major spill could reach Florida's

beaches, reefs and marine sanctuaries in about a week.



"If there's a spill in an area within 50 miles of Key West, the

immediate vulnerable land areas are going to be in South Florida,"

former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham warned in an interview last week. "The

largest natural reef in the United States is located right near the area

where the drilling would take place.



"If there is an accident, there is zero capability in Cuba today to

respond to that accident."



Graham, who served two terms as Florida governor, met with Cuban

officials in January and co-chaired a presidential commission on the

2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He and energy

experts said the Russians have little experience with deep-water

drilling and that the U.S. embargo of Cuba prohibits the use of American

technology to prevent or respond to a spill.



A State Department spokesperson said U.S. officials "have expressed our

concerns" to Cuba and its partners, but the United States can do nothing

to stop drilling in Cuban waters. While the embargo limits the use of

American products, U.S. companies have been licensed to respond in case

of a spill.



The agreement reflects Putin's outreach to nations once aligned with the

former Soviet Union and re-creates a Russian presence 90 miles from

Florida. Cuba, which once relied on Soviet patronage to prop up its

economy, is re-establishing close connections with Russia.



U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, a leading critic of the Castro

regime, said the growing relationship "has damaged U.S. interests and

invited cronies of Putin's oil and security industries to our doorstep."



The energy agreement also stirred concerns about the safety of oil

exploration less than 50 miles from Florida in waters more than 5,000

feet deep, where drilling is far more hazardous than on land or in

shallow waters.



"Are the Russians going to let U.S. officials inspect their rig?" said

Jorge Pinon, a leading energy expert at the University of Texas. "Is the

U.S. just going to sit on the sidelines and allow Cuba to drill with a

piece of equipment, when we don't know whether it has the latest blowout

preventer or the latest technology?"



Zarubezhneft and companies from Spain and Malaysia have searched for oil

along Cuba's north coast since 2012. So far, their exploratory wells

have not turned up enough oil to be worth extracting. Cuba is

negotiating with other companies from Brazil, Canada and Angola to join

the hunt for black gold.



By Pinon's estimate, foreign companies have spent more than $700 million

over a decade in the futile search for oil between Cuba and Florida. But

Cuban officials say seismic testing indicates that as much as 20 billion

barrels worth of crude oil lies there — more than enough to meet its

needs for 100 years.



Political turmoil in Venezuela, meanwhile, jeopardizes the stream of

cheap oil it has been exporting to Cuba.



"The Cubans were very frustrated by the first round of drilling, but

there is still a lot of optimism and hope, and a sense of urgency with

what's going on in Venezuela," said Dan Whittle of the Environmental

Defense Fund, who meets frequently with Cuban officials. "They are

determined to move forward with more exploration next year."



Russia, meanwhile, has used energy as a foreign-policy tool while

defying international economic sanctions that stemmed from its seizure

of Crimea. The outreach includes a major energy accord with China.



When the Cuban agreement was signed, Putin noted that many of the

world's oil deposits are running dry. "Therefore, we have to move to new

areas, often hard to access ... and develop reserves that were

traditionally considered economically less efficient and hard to reach."



Graham and environmentalists say the pressure to drill threatens

Florida's delicate ecosystem, its beaches, its endangered species and

its tourism industry.



The nightmare scenario inspired best-selling author James Grippando, a

lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, to write a recently published novel, "Black

Horizon," depicting horrors created by a major spill near Cuba that

fouls the Everglades and the coastline.



"It all takes place in eight days," Grippando said. "According to the

experts I talked to, that's essentially the window of opportunity we

have to respond to a spill. The oil would reach the U.S. coastline

within six to 10 days."



wgibson@tribune.com or 202-824-8256



Source: Russia plunges into Cuban oil exploration near Florida's shores

- Sun Sentinel -

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-russia-cuba-oil-drilling-20140612,0,4755403.story