Colombia

Ecopetrol lays out Cuba plans

News wires
Colombian state-controlled producer Ecopetrol plans to explore for oil in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico, officials said.
Colombian Energy Minister Hernan Martinez announced the project earlier this week after meeting with Cuban Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia.
The meeting with Garcia and other Cuban officials was “very interesting”, Martinez told EFE news agency, adding that Ecopetrol would register with the island's National Mineral Resources Organisation as the first step in developing the project.
“Later, a group of technicians will be sent to conduct a geological study” in Cuba's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Gulf of Mexico, the Colombian energy minister said.
The zone, off the island's northwestern coast, covers an area of some 112,000 square kilometres.
“We'll be doing that very soon, so we can later determine our participation,” Martinez said.
The minister traveled to Havana with Ecopetrol boss Javier Gutierrez for a 24-hour visit to meet with Cuban officials and discuss exploration opportunities in deep-water areas within Cuba's Gulf boundaries.
Spain's Repsol YPF, Norway's StatoilHydro, India's Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Malaysia's Petronas, Venezuela's PDVSA, Vietnam's PetroVietnam and Brazil's Petrobras are operating in Cuba's EEZ.
State-owned Cupet's exploration director, Rafael Tenreyro, said last November that based on “very modest” estimates, about 20 billion barrels could lie off the island's north coast, while the US Geological Survey has estimated that the North Cuba basin holds between 4.6 billion and 9.3 billion barrels of crude oil.
The zone is divided into 59 blocks and, according to officials, only 30 of them are at depths of less than 2000 metres.