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Spanish oil company repsol says exploratory well off cuba isunsuccessful, will be abandoned by ferujkll sdff
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Spanish oil company repsol says exploratory well off cuba isunsuccessful, will be abandoned by FERUJKLL SDFF
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| Article Posted: 09/05/2013 |
| Article Views: 53 |
| Articles Written: 2023 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
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Spanish oil company repsol says exploratory well off cuba isunsuccessful, will be abandoned |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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HAVANA – An exploratory oil well off the northern coast of Cuba has proveda failure and will be capped and abandoned, Spanish company Repsolsaid Friday, a disappointment for a cash-strapped nation hoping foran economic lifeline. Trial and error is par for the course in oil exploration, however,and analysts said the news is far from a death blow to Cuba'spetroleum dreams. Repsol SA is evaluating the data it collected since the Scarabeo-9rig arrived off the coast of Havana in January after a months-long,round-the-world trek from construction sites in China andSingapore. The company has not yet decided whether to sink furtherwells in the area, spokesman Kristian Rix said. Rix said four of every five offshore wells come up dry, and it'stoo soon to determine whether other parts of Repsol's explorationblock are commercially viable.
"Mapping an (offshore) oil field is like trying to draw a map of acity when all you have is one in 10 lampposts working and a bit ofa fog," Rix said by phone from Madrid. "It's very hard to do, so Ican't draw any conclusions from one well about the whole rest ofit. These are questions that geologists will have to answer." Nor does the failed well mean that the rest of Cuba's offshoreexploratory area, which has been estimated to hold 5 billion to 9billion barrels, is barren. "I think it's disappointing news, but in my opinion it doesn't meanthat the whole of the Cuban north belt is not a geological zonethat in the future could produce a substantial amount ofhydrocarbons," said Jorge Pinon, former president of Amoco OilLatin America and now an energy expert at the University of Texas.
"It's disappointing, but it's not surprising," he added. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request forcomment. The project has generated controversy in the United States, withconcerns of a possible environmental disaster like the 2010Macondo-Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill on the other side ofthe Gulf. Many feared it would be impossible for longtime foes in Washingtonand Havana to coordinate response and containment, threateninglarge stretches of coastline in Cuba, Florida and beyond.
Repsolhas sought to allay those fears by opening up the drill rig to U.S.inspectors, and by openly sharing data with both governments. Meanwhile Cuban-American politicians have criticized the Obamaadministration for not stopping the drilling altogether. The50-year-old U.S. economic embargo already essentially bars Americancompanies from doing oil business with Cuba and threatens sanctionsagainst foreign companies if they don't follow its restrictions,but hard-liners say even tougher measures are needed to discouragefirms like Repsol from teaming up with the Cubans.
"The Obama Administration looked the other way as Repsol aided theCuban tyranny's dangerous scheme to become the oil barons of theCaribbean," Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statementFriday. The sanctions have greatly complicated the drilling project, makingit far more difficult to line up equipment and resources. Themassive Scarabeo-9 platform had to be constructed in Asia with lessthan 10 percent U.S.-made parts to avoid violating the embargo. Cuba has been struggling to lift its weak economy out of thedoldrums for years, and the prospect of oil riches is a major partof the country's master plan.
A big find would also lessen Cuba'sreliance on Venezuela, which gives Cuba $3 billion a year in oilsubsidies, but whose leader is ailing with cancer. The failure of the well is also surely a letdown for Repsol, whichhas now come up empty in two Cuban wells drilled over the lastdecade. Repsol and its partners were leasing the rig for about ahalf-million dollars a day. Rix declined to say how much has been spent to carry out theexploration.
Pinon said the typical cost of sinking a deep-water well in theGulf of Mexico runs around $100 million to $150 million. Also weighing on the company's Cuba plans is its dispute withArgentina over that nation's takeover of Repsol's majority stake inoil and gas producer YPF, Pinon said. "You have to add the challenges that Repsol is having vis-a-vis YPFArgentina," he said. "Will the challenges that Repsol is going tohave force them to focus more of their worldwide exploration intoareas in which they know that there is a lower risk, for examplethe U.S.
Gulf of Mexico?" Diplomats and industry sources say the Scarabeo-9 rig will berented out next by Malaysian oil company Petronas for explorationnorth of Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, to the west of Havana. ___ Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter at /Peter_Orsi . I am an expert from Electrical Ceramics, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as white fruit cake , bar rail mats.
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