Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

Cuba’s only deepwater well was drilled in July 2004 by Repsol, a Spanish company.  Repsol reported a non-commercial oil discovery 95 miles southwest of Key West.  For the past 5 years, there have been a series of announcements from Havana, but no offshore drilling activity.

Here is what we know about Cuba’s offshore oil and gas potential:

– USGS (2005) estimates that Cuba’s northern offshore basin could contain 4.6 billion (mean) barrels of oil, with a 5% probability of discovering 9.4 billion barrels. Mean natural gas resources are estimated to be 9.8 trillion cubic feet.

– Cuban government officials believe the USGS estimates are low.  They indicate that Cuba may have more than 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

–Cuba’s 2008 oil production was estimated at 61,300 barrels per day.

Will the offshore activity and results ever match the inflated rhetoric?  We will be watching.