Despite its growing population and burgeoning demand for energy, Florida for decades has prevented drilling for oil and gas off its shores. But now the Sunshine State's worst nightmare is coming true—an oil well is being drilled 70 miles offshore in Cuban waters well beyond the state's control or political influence.
The well is introducing Florida to the realities of international energy supply and demand and is forcing the US government to reassess 50 years of sanctions against the communist government of the largest island in the Caribbean. Whether the longstanding trade embargo was a suitable response to Fidel Castro's nationalization of US-owned businesses a half-century ago or has done anything to bring down that regime, it is adamantly supported by the influential Florida-based lobby of Cuban expatriates.
That's fine. It's the basic right of all US citizens to petition their government for redress of grievances, and certainly Cuban expatriates have good reason to oppose the Castro regime that forced them into exile. But the primary reason Floridians have opposed offshore drilling is fear of a massive oil spill that would ruin the state's beautiful beaches. That fear is so great that they've even opposed drilling for natural gas that can't spill. And the fear has grown since Repsol YPF SA, the Spanish operator, started drilling the Cuban well in February.
Floridians expect the worst—a blowout like the Macondo disaster of 2010. An oil spill in Cuban waters would be challenging. Surface currents there are 3-4 times faster than off Florida's Panhandle and aimed toward the state. Controlling the well, skimming or burning spilled oil, or even use of dispersants would be difficult since the most experienced US spill-response companies can't work in Cuba.
But Repsol YPF is an experienced, respected producer, as are its partners, Statoil ASA of Norway and ONGC Videsh Ltd., the overseas arm of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. From the start more than a year ago, they reached out to US officials to keep them in the loop about their drilling plans. They even allowed US Department of the Interior and Coast Guard inspectors aboard the Chinese-built rig before it entered Cuban waters (OGJ Online, Oct. 19, 2011).
Also, Repsol YPF has already safely drilled one well in Cuban waters, and there's no reason to assume it won't be equally successful in drilling this one.
Yet the US response was a hard-nose proposal by US Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) "to figure out what we can do to inflict maximum pain, maximum punishment, to bleed Repsol [YPF] of whatever resources they may have if there's a potential for a spill that would affect the US coast."
A better alternative
Instead of threatening national oil companies of smaller nations, the US should work with other countries to respond to oil spills in international waters, said members of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Capt. Melissa Bert, USCG, Military Fellow with the CFR, said sanctions that constrain US assistance with an oil spill in Cuban waters need to end.
"It is time to incorporate Cuba, as the US does throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, and Canada, where operational agreements specify routine exercises, emergency response coordination, communication protocols, and joint operations," she said.
A good start would be to bring Cuba into the Cartagena Convention of 1983 for protection and development of the Caribbean marine environment. That convention, to which the US was a signer, requires members to adopt measures to prevent, reduce, and control marine pollution from many sources. One of its three protocols involves cooperation in combating oil spills.
"Next, the US government should work through sanction hurdles," Bert advised. "The offshore gas and oil industry in the US is the best source for remotely operated submersibles and undersea containment technologies. Currently, no US companies are authorized to cap wells or conduct relief drilling in Cuba waters. Licensing cannot wait."
Bert concluded, "Now is the time to issue an export-only industry-wide general license for oil spill response in Cuba waters—not in the maelstrom of a crisis."
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