Cuba, Bahamas push ahead with offshore oil plans

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Plans in Cuba and neighboring  Bahamas to develop offshore oil fields may open big new oil  frontiers at the doorstep of the United States, but the Cuban  project has sparked opposition in next-door Florida reflecting  the usual antagonistic U.S.-Cuba politics.

Some Florida political leaders have asked U.S. President  Barack Obama to find a way to stop Cuba’s drilling, but so far  the White House has stayed out of the issue. Cuban oil  exploration plans continue on the communist-led island, where  significant fresh drilling is expected to begin early in 2011.

Suggestions from U.S. lawmakers such as Senator Bill Nelson and Representative Vern Buchanan have included withdrawing the  1977 recognition of Cuba’s claim to part of the Gulf of Mexico  and pressuring Spain to curb Spanish oil giant Repsol YPF,  which is leading the Cuba exploration.

Florida, mindful of its $60 billion-a-year tourism  industry, has successfully kept U.S. offshore exploration well  away from its shores. In the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico, drillers  are allowed no closer to the state’s west coast than 125 miles  (200 km).

Still, some of Florida’s Panhandle beaches were stained by  oil from the massive BP Gulf spill this summer.

Buchanan, in a letter to Obama, said Cuba will drill in  water deeper than the BP well, which was about 5,000 feet (141  metres) down, making it “extremely difficult” to control a  spill.

“It is critical that Florida’s unique coastline environment  and its population be protected,” he said.

Maritime boundaries with Cuba and Bahamas are about 50  miles (80 km) distance from South Florida, meaning they can  drill closer to the state than U.S. operators. In the Bahamas, the Bahamas Petroleum Corp has leased more  than 2 million acres offshore and has a joint venture in place  with Norway’s Statoil, but this project so far has received  little mention in Florida.