U.S. enemies align with Cuba to claim gulf oil
- Submitted by: admin
- Business and Economy
- 01 / 04 / 2007
The waters 60 miles off the coast of Florida are stirring these days. Its not so much the fury of hurricanes and shuttling of pleasure liners and tourist boats. Its the heavier-duty traffic churning through the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea surrounding the island nation of Cuba.
Stimulated by recent discoveries of oil in the North Cuba Basin, within almost eye-shot of the Florida Keys, nations that do not necessarily all have the best of intentions toward the United States are vying for a stake in exploitation of these reserves that border U.S. territory.
Vessels hailing from China, Spain and Canada already dot the swells surrounding rigs that are busy setting up to operate in the Gulf or are already drilling to extract the black gold that lies beneath the deep.
Cuban oil is cementing some interesting alliances among a handful of nations already getting the jump on the U.S. in the race to exploit this oil field at Americas back door.
Remember December 2005, where in a matter of hours Hurricane Katrina destroyed one fifth of U.S. domestic petroleum output? While a good portion has come back online since that catastrophe, the U.S is currently missing out on a golden opportunity to bolster access to a much-needed pool of oil strategically located adjacent to its southern coast.
Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, domestic squabbling in Washington hog-ties Americas access to oil while competing nations charge ahead to fill the gap. Congress remains bogged down arguing with opposition stemming from the environmental and tourism lobbies against U.S. involvement not only in this promising oil field estimated to contain 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels lying beneath the Cuban basin. Even as Cuba parcels out contracts in this region to a motley group of foreign powers, 4 billion to 10 billion barrels go begging beneath the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, with drilling held up in Congress due to the objections of environmental groups warning of oilmen endangering caribou among other things.
Meanwhile, the nations currently bent on developing the Cuban basin oilfields have nowhere near the interest in preserving the environment as the U.S. Nor, in some instances, do they have the technological sophistication to clean up spillage when it occurs. Thus we can foresee a future with foreign nations exploiting off the Florida Keys, leaving the clean-up of any mess to the good ol U.S. of A.
Stimulated by recent discoveries of oil in the North Cuba Basin, within almost eye-shot of the Florida Keys, nations that do not necessarily all have the best of intentions toward the United States are vying for a stake in exploitation of these reserves that border U.S. territory.
Vessels hailing from China, Spain and Canada already dot the swells surrounding rigs that are busy setting up to operate in the Gulf or are already drilling to extract the black gold that lies beneath the deep.
Cuban oil is cementing some interesting alliances among a handful of nations already getting the jump on the U.S. in the race to exploit this oil field at Americas back door.
Remember December 2005, where in a matter of hours Hurricane Katrina destroyed one fifth of U.S. domestic petroleum output? While a good portion has come back online since that catastrophe, the U.S is currently missing out on a golden opportunity to bolster access to a much-needed pool of oil strategically located adjacent to its southern coast.
Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, domestic squabbling in Washington hog-ties Americas access to oil while competing nations charge ahead to fill the gap. Congress remains bogged down arguing with opposition stemming from the environmental and tourism lobbies against U.S. involvement not only in this promising oil field estimated to contain 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels lying beneath the Cuban basin. Even as Cuba parcels out contracts in this region to a motley group of foreign powers, 4 billion to 10 billion barrels go begging beneath the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, with drilling held up in Congress due to the objections of environmental groups warning of oilmen endangering caribou among other things.
Meanwhile, the nations currently bent on developing the Cuban basin oilfields have nowhere near the interest in preserving the environment as the U.S. Nor, in some instances, do they have the technological sophistication to clean up spillage when it occurs. Thus we can foresee a future with foreign nations exploiting off the Florida Keys, leaving the clean-up of any mess to the good ol U.S. of A.
Source: The Trumpet.com
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