November 2nd, 2008
As ably reported by the St. Petersburg Times, Brazilian president Inacio Lula da Silva recently signed an agreement between his country’s state oil company, Petrobras, and its Cuban counterpart, Cupet, to explore for oil in waters off Cuba’s north coast. As the article notes:
“…Details on the oil agreement have not yet been made public. The deal is expected to include rights to one of Cuba’s offshore exploration blocks. Brazil will also help Cuba cultivate soy beans to substitute for current food imports. Brazil is also helping Cuba develop its sugar cane for ethanol program.
Cuba said earlier this month that the country may have over 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil in its offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico, much more than previous estimates. If true, that would put Cuba among the world’s top 20 oil producing nations. As a comparison, the U.S. has reserves of 29 billion barrels.
The US Geological Survey says the North Cuba basin could hold up to 9.3bn barrels and 21.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, though how much of that is proven and recoverable is far from clear. Cupet says it is using newer and more accurate data.
Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.