Cuba Denies Reported Oil Discovery

HAVANA TIMES – The state company CubaPetróleo (Cupet) reduced the level of expectations created by the alleged discovery of a major oil field in the center of the island and said the news was a “misinterpretation”, reported dpa news.

The deputy director of CubaPetróleo (Cupet), Roberto Suarez, said some media “distorted” the press release issued by the MEO Australia that “at no time used the word discovery or finding,” but referred to” identification of potential.”

In July news reports spread that the Australian based company MEO had confirmed the discovery of a deposit of 8.2 billion of high quality oil, in a zone located between the central provinces of Matanzas and Ciego de Avila.

MEO has a production contract with Cupet, under which it conducts exploration studies, seismic work and reprocessing data from block number #9, according to Suarez quoted by the official newspaper “Granma”.

Cupet said the alleged discovery still requires an “evaluation, exploration and analysis” because the prospecting “implies risks”.

   Currently, Cuba’s oil production covers 60 percent of the energy needed by the island, said the head of exploration Cupet, Oswaldo Lopez, told state television.

Cuba needs foreign investment for projects in the oil sector, which has contracts with companies from Venezuela, Russia, Angola, Canada, Australia and Vietnam, who are especially interested in exploration in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cuba’s energy system is heavily dependent on the subsidized Venezuelan oil supply. The political and economic crisis in Caracas has caused the fall of supply to Havana by 40 percent during the first half of 2016, according to the Venezuelan state company PDVSA.

Cuban authorities have put into effect energy saving measures while seeking new suppliers such as Russia and the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, which said it will send to Cuba about 515,000 barrels of crude in October.