Oil Reserves in Cuba - Petroleum Exploration

Petroleum Exploration

In 2012, three deepwater (more than 300 meters of water) exploration wells were drilled by the Italian platform Scarabeo 9 (owned by Saipem, for different oil companies : one for Repsol was finished in May, one for Petronas and Gazpromneft, finished in August, and finally one for PdVSA, finished in late October. None of the three found commercial quantity of oil or gas, which jeopardized Cuba's hope to find hydrocarbons to boost its economy, and prompted Repsol to relinquish its concessions in this country Prospects remained good for discovery of modest commercial deposits with additional exploration but planned departure of the only deep-water drilling rig available in the fall of 2012 set the detailed exploration program necessary back for a period of years. There remain unexplored deep-water leases held by Vietnamese and Angolan firms and drilling was planned on a shallow-water prospect east of Havana by Zarubezhneft, a Russian company, using a Norwegian rig.