Cuba needs to be brought into the debate and discussion about drilling and safety standards in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico area is the ninth largest body of water in the world and is surrounded by Mexico and the United States in North America and Cuba in the Caribbean, and has large hydrocarbon reserves. These were some of the views expressed by speakers at last week's International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) Environmental Conference and Exhibition, which was held at the Hyatt Trinidad Regency hotel, Port-of-Spain. This meeting came at an important time as Cuba will be planning in the coming months to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico area.
One Gulf policy
Dr Lee Hunt, president, IADC, spoke about a "One Gulf" policy and the importance of the United States, Mexico and Cuba working together to come up with collective standards and solutions to deal with problems. Since the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico last year, there have been discussions about the countries that share that coast: the US, Mexico and Cuba working together to develop a clear policy to avert and deal with future risks. This is commonly known as the "One Gulf" policy. Lee said that one of the reasons the IADC is interested in trying to get a Cuban delegation involved in dialogue is because of the US economic embargo against Cuba, which legally bars international operators working in Cuba, like Repsol, from turning to the US to access resources in the event of a disaster in Cuba.
The IADC is trying to overcome that prohibition. "A similar legal prohibition does not exist with regards to T&T or the Bahamas in terms of access to these types of equipment. The only thing that might exist is the transportation time from the US to the Caribbean. I think we will see every major drilling theatre, the deepwater drilling, beginning to require the accumulation of these resources, and would expect that we would see a deep water spill response organisation or collaborative result. We will probably see one for the South Eastern Caribbean and then the west coast of Africa," Hunt said. Hunt stressed that the only solution is through dialogue. "One of the things I'm hoping to do in the IADC is create the dialogue so those people engaged can share ideas on how to do it," he said.
Need for collaboration
Jorge Piñon, professor at the Florida International University and an expert on Cuba's energy sector, warned about the repercussions for the environment if there is no collaboration between the US and Cuba. He said the US embargo against Cuba prohibits the moving of equipment to Cuba in the event of an oil spill, which, he said, is potentially dangerous. The US Government gave the IADC the permission to bring the Cubans to the event. "The US needs to bring Cuba into the conversation and bring Cuba to the table to talk about that. So in case of a national emergency, Cuba has access to all the resources it needs," he said. From an economic standpoint, Piñon said that Cuba's tourism sector is its lifeblood and it cannot afford to have an environmental mishap that could ruin its beaches and natural habitat. "That's why the Cuban delegation is under pressures from its government to get this right. They don't want to hurt their economy," Piñon said.
He said this has to be understood on the background of Cuba trying to achieve energy independence.
"One of the key factors in Cuba's economic growth is for them to become energy independent. For the last five years, Cubans have gone through what they call 'energy revolution.' It's a very well planned way of conservation and optimisation. "About 80 per cent of Cuba's demand for energy comes out of oil and about ten per cent is natural gas. They do have solar and wind sources. In the rural areas, you see the solar energy contributing to their needs. In 15 to 20 years, it is estimated that Cuba will double its consumption of oil from 150,000 barrels a day to 300,000 barrels a day," he added. Piñon said the eventual outcome of Cuba's economy is not going to be based on any foreign system, but its own. "Folks are talking about of Cuba is going to be following the Chinese model or the Vietnamese model, but what we will see developing is the Cuban model," he said.
He said Cubans are sometimes stereotyped as not being aware of some of the latest and best practices in the energy industry, but added contrary to that view, Cubans are very aware of the latest techniques in the industry. Piñon called for all the countries in the Gulf area to be included in policy making. "We cannot be exclusive; we have to be inclusive. We cannot keep anyone out of the One Gulf idea," he said. The main speaker from the Cuban delegation at the IADC conference was Fidel Llizastegui, process safety and risk management specialist with the Office for the Environment and Nuclear Safety Regulation, who spoke about Cuban safety standards and Cuba regulatory system for drilling.