PetroVietnam May Drill off Cuba Coast

HAVANA TIMES — The PetroVietnam state oil company is considering drilling in its concessions off the coast of Cuba next year, an executive of the company told Reuters on Friday.

The blocks granted to Vietnam — which are in waters more than 2,000 meters deep and possessing reserves some 5,000 meters below the seabed — contain between 3 billion to 5 billion barrels according to seismic surveys.

“Going forward, we will need to sink an exploratory well, though the time or drilling the well has yet to be determined. This is under evaluation by our technicians,” said company vice president Nguyen Quoc Thap.

Thap added that they are also awaiting the first findings by Spain’s Repsol Corporation as well as the outcome of drilling by the Malaysian government-owned firm Petronas and Venezuela’s PDVSA.