CUBA: A massive Chinese-built oil platform arrives off Havana's coast with drilling expected to begin later this month

Record ID: 344137

  • Title: CUBA: A massive Chinese-built oil platform arrives off Havana's coast with drilling expected to begin later this month
  • Date: 20th January 2012
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JANUARY 19, 2012) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF HAVANA SEAFRONT VARIOUS OF CHINESE-BUILT OIL PLATFORM OFF THE COAST CUBAN WOMAN SITTING ON MALECON VARIOUS OF OIL PLATFORM BUILDING ALONG SEAFRONT VARIOUS OF CARS DRIVING ALONG HAVANA'S FAMED MALECON FISHING BOAT VARIOUS MORE OF OIL PLATFORM
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba, Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVAMSK2HMKNSEI6IR32MIQ0WQR3
  • Story Text: A Chinese-built drilling rig - set for the first major exploration for oil in Cuba's offshore waters - arrived on Thursday (January 19, 2012) off the coast near Havana.
    The rig, known as Scarabeo 9, sailed slowly westward, miles off the north coast and Havana's Malecon seaside roadway.
    Starting later this month, Spanish oil giant Repsol YPF, working in partnership with Norway's Statoil and a unit of India's ONGC, is expected to drill at least two wells in Cuban waters about 70 miles (112 km) from the Florida Keys.
    Malaysia's Petronas, in partnership with Russia's Gazprom Neft, also will drill a well using the Scarabeo 9. The rig has been contracted from its owner Saipem, a unit of Italian oil company Eni.
    All the wells will be in water at least a mile (1.6 km) deep, like that of the BP well that blew out and spilled millions of gallons of oil in the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
    Cuba has said it may have 20 billion barrels of oil in its parts of the Gulf but the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated about 5 billion.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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