US Companies Seeking to Drill for Oil in Cuban Waters
HAVANA TIMES, March 22 — Discussions took place in the US Congress on Wednesday concerning draft legislation that would allow American companies to drill for oil in Cuba-controlled waters off the island’s coast, reported the Prensa Latina news agency.
The bill, the 2012 Energy Security for the Western Hemisphere Act, would also allow the export of equipment to Cuba for oil exploration, extraction, and oil-spill prevention and clean-up, as well as outfitting for the import of oil and gas.
The initiative — which seeks to exempt oil drilling from the sanctions imposed on Cuba by 50-year-old trade embargo — is opposed by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who in January of this year demanded that companies be penalized for cooperating with the island in this activity.
drilling for oil is always a gamble and cuba`s reserves, if those reserves are there, are at very deep levels and will be expensive to extract and it will take years before there is a pay day. there should always be an economic plan B. according to scientific american there will be serious food shortages all over the world in a few years and in some areas of the world this is already the case. 2 years ago food prices were predicted to rise by 50% in 10 years. in great agricultural countries like australia food is no longer cheap. more than 40% of the world`s land area is already used for agriculture and there is not much left that can be used for agriculture except with more environmental damage to tropical and temperate forests. food prices will not stablize in 8 years. as long as the world`s population rises food prices will rise. cuba is a big food importer and if the government doesn`t invest a lot of money in agriculture soon there will be very serious economic problems not too far in the future. there are worldwide fresh water shortages and climate change is destroying agriculture in areas like east africa which make this situation worse.