- Title: CUBA: Former EPA chief urges U.S. to cooperate with Cuba on offshore oil
- Date: 9th September 2011
- Summary: EAST HAVANA, CUBA (FILE - APRIL, 2011) (REUTERS) CUBAN AND CHINESE FLAG FLYING OVER DRILLING RIG DRILLING RIG TOWER REFLECTED IN SOMEONE'S SUNGLASSES CREW WORKING ON DRILLING RIG SANTA CRUZ, CUBA (FILE - JANUARY, 2010) (REUTERS) OIL RIG ON THE EASTERN COAST OF CUBA VARIOUS OF FLAMES BEING RISING FROM CHIMNEY STACK
- Embargoed: 24th September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cuba, Cuba
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Business,International Relations,Environment,Politics,Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA51T9LGJ9SU40GIBXILKOBOVH8
- Story Text: The United States must work with its ideological foe Cuba on joint safety plans as the island readies to begin exploration of its still-untapped Gulf of Mexico oil fields, the co-chief of the U.S. BP oil spill investigation said on Wednesday (September 07).
William Reilly told reporters the United States should make its expertise and equipment available in case of an accident when a Chinese-made rig begins drilling for oil later this year in Cuban waters about 60 miles (96 km) from the Florida Keys.
Experts have said a Cuban spill, if not contained, could carry oil to Florida and up the U.S. east coast.
But the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents American companies from operating on the island.
"It seems to me profoundly in the interest of the United States to ensure that, should there be a spill in Cuban waters - the possibility of which could be 50 or 60 miles from Key West (Florida) - that all efforts are under taken by both government and private entities in the United States to assist in responding to such a spill," said Reilly, who is on a trip to Cuba.
Reilly said the two countries need to jointly develop protocols and plans for that to happen quickly, which he said has not been done because of U.S. policy.
The BP spill commission Reilly led together with former U.S. Senator Bob Graham of Florida recommended that the United States, Mexico and Cuba, which share the Gulf of Mexico, cooperate to prevent damaging spills.
"Give very high priority to recognizing that where countries share water and resources, they need to collaborate in the management. They need particularly to be sensitive - when deep water drilling is involved - to the possibility of a catastrophe and of a spill from the sovereign waters of one country impacting on those of another," said Reilly.
The BP well, drilled in 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) of water off the coast of Louisiana took 85 days to control and spilled five million barrels of oil.
"The message I will take back to those I will speak to in the United States government is that the Cubans by every measure I have seen are open and willing and interested in having more information in exchange with the United States," Reilly added.
The Scarabeo 9 drilling rig, owned by Italian oil giant Eni SpA's offshore unit Saipem and contracted by Spanish oil company Repsol YPF, set sail from Singapore on August 26 and is expected to reach Cuba by November 1 to start drilling the first of several planned wells.
The wells will be sunk in water up to 5,600 feet (1,707 meters) deep.
Cuba has been working with Canadian and Norwegian oil experts to prepare safety measures and had sent 200 engineers to Brazil for training on offshore oil equipment, they said.
The Obama administration sent Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to Spain in June to meet with Repsol officials, who assured him the rig would meet all U.S. safety requirements.
But the White House has been slow to move otherwise, in part because of opposition from Florida lawmakers, particularly Cuban Americans who say the discovery of oil in Cuba will help the communist government led by President Raul Castro. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None