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20 billion barrel oil discovery puts Cuba in the big league

 
 
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 02:11 pm
Will Cuba's oil finally end the stupid embargo? ---BBB

20bn barrel oil discovery puts Cuba in the big league.
Self-reliance beckons for communist state.
by Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent The Guardian UK
October 18 2008

Friends and foes have called Cuba many things - a progressive beacon, a quixotic underdog, an oppressive tyranny - but no one has called it lucky, until now .

Mother nature, it emerged this week, appears to have blessed the island with enough oil reserves to vault it into the ranks of energy powers. The government announced there may be more than 20bn barrels of recoverable oil in offshore fields in Cuba's share of the Gulf of Mexico, more than twice the previous estimate.

If confirmed, it puts Cuba's reserves on par with those of the US and into the world's top 20. Drilling is expected to start next year by Cuba's state oil company Cubapetroleo, or Cupet.

"It would change their whole equation. The government would have more money and no longer be dependent on foreign oil," said Kirby Jones, founder of the Washington-based US-Cuba Trade Association. "It could join the club of oil exporting nations."

"We have more data. I'm almost certain that if they ask for all the data we have, (their estimate) is going to grow considerably," said Cupet's exploration manager, Rafael Tenreyro Perez.

Havana based its dramatically higher estimate mainly on comparisons with oil output from similar geological structures off the coasts of Mexico and the US. Cuba's undersea geology was "very similar" to Mexico's giant Cantarell oil field in the Bay of Campeche, said Tenreyro.

A consortium of companies led by Spain's Repsol had tested wells and were expected to begin drilling the first production well in mid-2009, and possibly several more later in the year, he said.

Cuba currently produces about 60,000 barrels of oil daily, covering almost half of its needs, and imports the rest from Venezuela in return for Cuban doctors and sports instructors. Even that barter system puts a strain on an impoverished economy in which Cubans earn an average monthly salary of $20.

Subsidised grocery staples, health care and education help make ends meet but an old joke - that the three biggest failings of the revolution are breakfast, lunch and dinner - still does the rounds. Last month hardships were compounded by tropical storms that shredded crops and devastated coastal towns.

"This news about the oil reserves could not have come at a better time for the regime," said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a Cuba energy specialist at the University of Nebraska.

However there is little prospect of Cuba becoming a communist version of Kuwait. Its oil is more than a mile deep under the ocean and difficult and expensive to extract. The four-decade-old US economic embargo prevents several of Cuba's potential oil partners - notably Brazil, Norway and Spain - from using valuable first-generation technology.

"You're looking at three to five years minimum before any meaningful returns," said Benjamin-Alvarado.

Even so, Cuba is a master at stretching resources. President Raul Castro, who took over from brother Fidel, has promised to deliver improvements to daily life to shore up the legitimacy of the revolution as it approaches its 50th anniversary.

Cuba's unexpected arrival into the big oil league could increase pressure on the next administration to loosen the embargo to let US oil companies participate in the bonanza and reduce US dependency on the middle east, said Jones. "Up until now the embargo did not really impact on us in a substantive, strategic way. Oil is different. It's something we need and want."
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 4,141 • Replies: 37
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hamburger
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 02:21 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
even if it's only 9 bn barrels , it's still a major find for cuba !

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/261362



Quote:
According to the company, Cuba's undersea geology is "very similar" to the vast Mexican Cantarell and Poza Rica oil fields.

Recent estimates by the US Geological Survey indicate that only 9 billion barrels of oil lie within Cuba's portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

Tenreyro, however, believes his company has a better knowledge of Cuba's offshore geology.

At a news conference in the capital Havana, he said: "I'm almost certain that if [USGS officials] ask for all the data we have, their estimate is going to grow considerably."
cjhsa
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 02:23 pm
@hamburger,
Does this include the coast off of Miami and Key West?
0 Replies
 
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 02:25 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,


Does this really thrill your Red heart, BBB ?
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:09 pm
That is fantastic for Cuba. I hope they find double or triple that amount.
OmSigDAVID
 
  -1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:13 pm
@JTT,
Quote:

I hope they find double or triple that amount

Woud u have said the same
if the nazis had found it ?

Maybe u think commies are nicer, cuter n sweeter than nazis; I don 't.





David
0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:15 pm
Apparently real commies have no problem with using energy; just malthusian whackos like the greens and envirowhack wing of the demoKKKrat party.

Maybe we can manage to trade some of the greens for real commies; we'd likely be better off.
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:16 pm
Maybe we shoud forget about the war in Iraq
and re-vive colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.
0 Replies
 
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:21 pm
@gungasnake,
Absolutely NOTHING
is as filthy & abhorent as a commie.

It woud take 7 nazis to be as low as one commie.





David
mysteryman
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:30 pm
And why are they going to be allowed to drill in the gulf?
According to the envirowacko's, any spill would pollute the gulf beyond repair.
After all, isnt that why the oppose the US driling in the gulf?

And why arent the envirowacko's trying to stop them because any Cuban spill will impact US waters.

Other then that, good for the Cubans.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:54 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
I wonder what it is that you dislike about Nazis. Is it that they killed so many innocents. Let's count the number of innocents killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Guess who by?

Is it the fact that you hate the Cubans for actually trying to improve the lives of their citizens compared to the US enslaving them, letting the mob run the country, supporting dictators who murdered those same citizens.

Compare the treatment accorded to present day Cubans, the unbelievable health care system to the treatment by a hero of yours, a common war criminal named ronald reagan who supported the brutalization, rape and torture and murder of thousands of Nicaraguans. Remember, reagan believed that the Contras were the equivalent of your Founding Fathers.

Take the worst of either group, Nazis or Communists and they are saints compared to you and the vast majority of your governing group.
NickFun
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 03:57 pm
Now we will have to do business with Cuba. First we must apologize. "Hey, guys! It was just a big misunderstanding!" Maybe I'll be able to get some of them Cuban cigars!
hamburger
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 04:26 pm
@NickFun,
nick :

we've got a topic floating around dealing with the U.S. farm trade with cuba .
U.S. farmers want to sell MORE of their goods to cuba .
tried finding the topic again - i think it was still floating around in august/sepember , but i can''t find it anymore .
hbg
0 Replies
 
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 04:44 pm
@NickFun,
Quote:

Now we will have to do business with Cuba.
First we must apologize. "Hey, guys! It was just a big misunderstanding!"

Nick, is it FUN to embrace communist slavery ?
Is it in good taste to laud commie degradation and murder of decent people ?
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 05:10 pm
@JTT,
Quote:

I wonder what it is that you dislike about Nazis.

Its their authoritarianism, collectivism, rejection of Individualism
( Hitler called it a " cult " ) and disagree with the nazis about the Jews.

Quote:
Is it that they killed so many innocents.

That 's part of it, yes,
in furtherance of their aforesaid
authoritarian-collectivism, like the commies.


Quote:

Let's count the number of innocents killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No. U can count, if u wanna.
I have better things to do.

Quote:
Guess who by?

Can I have 2 guesses ?
Saddam n the Taliban.

Quote:
Is it the fact that you hate the Cubans

I feel sorry for the Cubans, living in slavery.
I felt sad for poor Elian Gonzalez,
being committed to live his life in slavery.
I hated all commies, of any nationality, including the Kennedys,
who stabbed the Cuban Freedom Fighters in the back. Monstrous.
Shows how monstrous liberals can be, when their inner essence leaks out.

Quote:

a common war criminal named ronald reagan
who supported the brutalization, rape and torture and murder
of thousands of Nicaraguans.

To kill a commie, a nazi, or a politically correct person,
is an act of love and beauty that I admire.
Reagan ruined communism and caused (or accelerated)
the ruin and end of the USSR.
For that he has my undying love, gratitude and respect.

I embrace, adopt, love and ratify all of Reagan 's foreign policy.





David

JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 05:26 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
You questioned me impugning your honesty, David. To impugn something it has to exist.

Quote:
David wrote: Is it in good taste to laud commie degradation and murder of decent people ?


Funny, an "honest" guy like you should say that. Can you tell me how many Vietnamese were murdered by the USA? How many innocents were carpet bombed, napalmed, raped and murdered? How many days did the perpetrators/murderers of the My Lai Massacre serve in prison?

Quote:

Cuba Embargo a
Prolonged Genocide

By Onofre Guevara López

Translated By Olga Tymejczyk

7 October 2008

Nicaragua - El Nuevo Diario - Original Article (Spanish)

At the end of this month, on October 29, the General Assembly of the United Nations will discuss, for the seventeenth time, a project of a resolution against the most universal, prolonged, and a low-blow of a violation of international law, human rights, and a people's sovereignty: a 50-year-old embargo imposed by imperialists against Cuba. The official name of Cuban delegation's proposal is: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."

According to a resolution approved last year, the debate on this issue in the General Assembly will be conducted on the basis of a report by the Secretary General regarding the effects of the embargo against Cuba, estimated at around $93 billion, of which $3.775 billion was the impact in 2007 alone. The report was prepared with cooperation of more than 100 countries, 20 UN agencies and other international organizations.

With majority support received in previous assemblies and the worldwide awareness of the damages brought about by the embargo year after year, it will be very difficult for Cuba's proposal not to be ratified again, just as forcefully. But Cuba is hoping for a result better than the 184 votes it received last year, when only 7 votes were missing from the unanimity of 191; excluding, of course, the United States, the 192nd member of the UN.

http://watchingamerica.com/News/8598/the-embargo-a-prolonged-genocide/



What about all the Vietnamese murdered by that "elite" group called Tiger Force?

Quote:

Article published October 19, 2003
7 allegations focused on GI from Arizona
'He had no mercy for anyone,' a fellow soldier remembers
By MICHAEL D. SALLAH and MITCH WEISS
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
c THE BLADE, 2003
...

For the next two months, he became one of the platoon's most prolific killers, according to sworn statements of other soldiers.

During a sweep of a village near Chu Lai, he carried out a gruesome atrocity that led to the Army's investigation of Tiger Force.

Two soldiers said he decapitated an infant to remove a necklace known as a "Buddha Band" from the baby's neck.

Several soldiers said Ybarra later bragged about killing the baby.

One Tiger Force sergeant told investigators most of the soldiers feared Ybarra. "He had no mercy for anyone," James Barnett said in 1973. "This includes Vietnamese civilians, women, and children."

Medic Harold Fischer said in a recent interview soldiers had to restrain Ybarra from attacking civilians. "He would kill unarmed villagers when the opportunity presented itself, which sometimes was on a daily basis."

By 1968, Ybarra was no longer in the unit.

After several confrontations with superiors, he was sent to an artillery company. By 1969, he was court-martialed three times for insubordination and marijuana possession, records show.

He was once disciplined for refusing to go into a bunker during a rocket attack. Sgt. Buford McClure wrote in a report on March 13, 1969, that Ybarra stood defiantly in the barracks.

"He just laughed, and said, `Everyone is getting shook up like a scared rabbit. I told you I wanted to go back to the Airborne so I can kill me some of those gooks and somebody else.'"

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/SRTIGERFORCE/110190160



Boy, isn't that justice, American style. He murdered innocent men women and children and he was court-martialed for insubordination and marijuana possession.

'honesty', don't make me laugh, David!
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 05:29 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
Quote:
To kill a commie, a nazi, or a politically correct person,
is an act of love and beauty that I admire.


You stand as a shining example that IQ has nothing at all to do with intelligence.

To have been duped by a man that was nothing more than a simpleton speaks volumes about your intelligence.
0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 05:38 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
Greens are worse than commies. Commies were never mahtusians; these dickheads want to reduce human populations to medieval levels for the greater glory of Gaea which is a form of idolatry, and do away with anybody other than farmers living outside of central cities.
OmSigDAVID
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 05:44 pm
@gungasnake,
Quote:

Greens are worse than commies. Commies were never mahtusians; these dickheads want to reduce human populations to medieval levels for the greater glory of Gaea which is a form of idolatry, and do away with anybody other than farmers living outside of central cities.

The commies strove to establish a world-wide slavery of infinite
totalitarian dimension of body and of mind. No other movement ever even
came close to befouling our species to that extent.





David
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 21 Oct, 2008 06:11 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
"honesty", David, entails addressing all the issues, including those that pertain to your own. Pointing fingers is childish when what is needed is a bit of introspection. Honesty demands that.

Need I remind you that your "honesty" is plummeting from its already abysmal low.
 

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