• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 01 / 26 / 2011

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Cuba's oil and natural gas production last year was similar to 2009 as output continued to stagnate and new wells simply made up for the decline in old ones output, state-run media said today.

News wires  25 January 2011 23:25 GMT. Citing state monopoly Cubapetroleo, official television said crude production was just over 3 million tonnes and natural gas barely topped 1 million cubic metres.

Energy dependent, Cuba does not report oil production in barrels, but officials state it is between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels per day, Reuters reported.

"This amounts to nearly 50% of domestic consumption and import savings of $1.4 billion," the report said.

Venezuela provides the remainder of Cuba's crude plus its share of oil for a joint venture refinery, amounting to a total of 115,000 bpd in 2009, the last available figures.

Cuban production is concentrated along the northwest heavy oil belt, an 80-mile (128-kilometre) stretch of coast in Havana and Matanzas provinces which produces all of Cuba's heavy crude with a density rating of 8 API to 18 API and a high sulfur content.

Most new wells are drilled vertically from the shore from two to seven kilometres out to sea.

Cuba drilled 25 wells last year and plans 20 this year, the report said.

Output has stagnated for nearly a decade as old wells are exhausted and new ones do no more than take up the slack.The poor-quality oil is burned in modified power plants and factories.

Source: www.upstreamonline.com/live/article242483.ece