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Friday, February 3, 2012
After approval from United States authorities, offshore oil drilling has begun off Cuba, officials here and the US confirmed.
The US Coast Guard and environmental safety officials said they inspected and approved the drilling platform under an unusual arrangement designed to allay
concerns about a possible spill that could foul the US coastline.
US officials said personnel from the US Coast Guard and the US Department of Interiors Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) inspected the
Scarabeo 9 platform off the coast of Trinidad & Tobago.
The review is consistent with US efforts to minimise the possibility of a major oil spill, which would hurt US economic and environmental interests, the US Interior
Department said.
Jorge Pion, visiting research fellow at the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, said the Scarabeo 9 giant, semi-submersible rig finished its months-long trek from China and is now visible from the shores of Havana, Cuba. He said the Spanish energy company, Repsol, is conducting the drilling.
US officials said Repsol is the first of several international companies that will use the Scarabeo 9 to look for oil in the Florida Straits. The US Geological Survey estimates about five billion barrels of oil sit under the
ocean floor between the US and Cuba.
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