Cuba invites Petrobras to explore for oil in the Gulf of Mexico

The Cuban government has invited the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

May 28, 2003

Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 28 -- The Cuban government has invited the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Cuban ambassador to Brazil, Jorge Lezcano Pérez, said that the Spanish giant Repsol-YPF SA had already carried out prospective work in the area, which indicated that there could be substantial oil reserves there.

Pérez said the initial idea is establishing a partnership between Petrobras and Cuba.

A Petrobras spokesperson told OGJ Online that the company is interested in the offer, and a deal could be struck later this year.

Pérez said further that Cuba has made a similar offer to other oil companies worldwide.

In the late 1990s, Petrobras invested some $15 million in exploratory work in the area off the north coast of Cuba near Cayo Coco, where the results were negative.