After revising estimates, Cuba now claims it has double the amount of oil in its offshore reserves than previously thought. If the estimates are accurate, Cuba would have just as much oil as the U.S.
This discovery, coupled with initiatives to develop alternative energy projects, such a brand new biogas factory, will put Cuba on the fast track to achieving energy independence.
If it in fact has 20 billion barrels of oil offshore, Cuba would slingshot into the top 20 of oil producing nations worldwide. They plan to start drilling next year for reserves located in the Gulf of Mexico, north of Cuba. The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed a survey in the area of discussion and arrived to an estimate far less to that of Cuba’s. Cuba has responded by suggesting that they have better data than the USGS, and with Cuba’s data they think the USGS would undoubtedly agree about the size of the oil discovery (apparently the offer to provide the data has been made).
For comparison, the United States currently is thought to have about 21 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Given the respective sizes and populations of each country, it’s easy to understand why Cuba will reach energy independence far more quickly than the United States (at least as long as there is oil in the world). Cuba currently produces about 60,000 barrels of oil per day. It buys an additional 93,000 a day from Venezuela at a reduced price to help meet its energy needs (they provide doctors for Venezuela in exchange as well as sports instructors).
But Cuba’s quest for energy independence is not succeeding simply because of luck and oil. They also are taking important steps such as banning incandescent light bulbs and investing in new alternative energy technology. For instance, a new biogas plant will help provide energy and electricity by processing organic waste. Construction of the plant was recently completed. It is located at a garbage dump in Havana that processes 60% of the capital’s waste. The United Nations’ divison of Industrial Development provided assistance with the project and Switzerland’s Government provided financial support.
What About the Embargo?
So the big question is whether or not Cuba’s oil discovery will put added pressure on the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba. With the possibility of having another significant oil supplier, what do you think the United States should do?
Image Credit: wedgienet on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
Wouldn’t it be terrible if solving its energy problem were also to put Cuba in the big league of having energy problems as well? Yuck!
Certainly I think about what might happen if Cuba succeeds with the oil it has announced it has found now. In Venezuela the low price of oil has led to the unsustainable phenomenon of gasoline being today cheaper than bottled water. It’s a relief to read articles such as the one below reporting Venezuela’s steps taken to provide them with alternatives to the gasoline-powered automobile. In the long run a real mass transit system is the most sustainable way to resolve the problem of transportation. When Cuba was so heavily subvented by the Soviet Union, it survived, but didn’t explore how to use its own native resources. It was compelled to do that when the USSR fell and the “special period” made that unavoidable for survival.
What’s most important about THIS news that Cuba has discovered this great potential source of energy independence is the possibility it offers to help bring an end to the blockade, which is the greatest single obstacle to Cuba’s solving its social, economic, political and other problems. It’s the blockade which is principal thing.
To follow the Cuban story, may I recommend the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo listserve which I’ve been operating since August 2000?
Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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Venezuela’s Chavez provides citizens with free natural gas vehicles
by Caroline Calais
Examiner.com
October 17,2008
Although a 12 cents a gallon price on gasoline may not persuade many Venezuelan’s of shifting to alternative fuel sources, saving petroleum and combating environmental pollution possibly will. In a program to exchange old gasoline consumer vehicles for free compressed natural gas (CNG) ones, president Chavez takes one step closer to making the Bolivarian revolution also an environmental one. Venezuela, holding the eighth largest natural gas reserve, and being the world’s fifth largest oil exporter, is now requiring the automobile sector to dedicate 30% of their production to natural gas vehicles, an amount that may rise to 40% by 2010, and 50% by 2011.
And with a government decree stipulating that PDVSA, the state run Venezuelan oil company, will pay for the acquisition, installation and maintenance of the required gas cylinders, General Motors (GM) is now
planning to start an annual production of 40,000 natural gas vehicles
Strange, how the Iraqis did not automatically embrace an American way of life, stranger still, how the Cubans have not revolted and opted for it. The Brits, New Zelanders, Aussies, Canadians, Germans, Brazilians, Argentinians, and French don’t aspire to live like us either. Maybe, just maybe, we haven’t got things as perfected as we think we do. Now that Colin Powell, Bush/McCain’s great general has backed Obama and the Pakistanis are accepting nuclear reactors from China instead of us and Iran is building Russian reactors, maybe we better reexamine our own situation. A Canadian style Medicare works for them, if it didn’t they can vote it out, and they haven’t, No body in the world worships our so-called freedoms anymore, few countries, especially Iceland trust our money, we can’t find foreign markets for our cars, South Koreans refuse to eat our meat, Maybe it is time to look down from the flag we worship and examine where we may have gone wrong? We spent a fortune ‘liberating’ Iraq, we got no oil. We just may not get Cuban oil either, they may have plans that reach beyond the almighty and super deflated buck? What the Hell happened during the Bush/McCain regime? Where did the respect go? Why doesn’t the American dollar have the same effect it had back when Clinton ran the show? What can we do to change things now?
Energy Independence should be independence from FOSSILE FUELS not independance from foreign sources of oil…….it is a FAR too short sighted way of looking at it.
“What can we do?”
For starters we could eliminate the sanctions on both Cuba and Iran. This would allow firms that do business with the US to also provide equipment and services for oil development in these nations. Who knows, they might even do what Saddam Hussein did in the 90′s, and hire US corporations. Isn’t that our national interest that we ought to be defending?
OIL IS NOT A FOSSILE FUEL, AND ‘PEAK OIL’ IS A LIE !! ~~~~~ Sorry for yelling, but we are being completely scammed here ! ~~~ Pretend you go fishing… and your boat arrives at a place where there are tons of fish right on the surface of the water. Good fishing ! Jackpot ! ~~~~~ Now, are we to believe that after all the fish on the surface are gathered – THAT THERE ARE NO FISH LEFT ?!?
~~~ So I encourage everyone to research Russian SuperDeep/UltraDeep drilling/access. Russians (who have close ties w/ Cuba) have proven that oil is – in fact – ABIOTIC ! … Not only that – but if you go DEEP enough, it can be accessed from ANYWHERE !! … Russia has proven this in Viet Nam (where Americans told them they had NO OIL), and in India (where the CIA sabotaged the well), just to name the most publisized. This is why Russia has now surpassed Saudi Arabia to become #1 in oil production ! They’ve been quietly building dozens & dozens of these wells – while the U.S. has convinced everyone we’re going to RUN OUT of oil soon, so it’s a good idea to go and kill Arabs, and STEAL theirs ! ~~ It’s NOT about oil ! It’s all a scam – just like ‘Global Warming’ as they have fed it to us !
These facts are all verifiable for those who choose to see… if you wait for the T.V. to tell you – you’ll NEVER know ! They’re ALL in on it ! And they are getting rich, while America gets poorer ! ~~~ REFUSE THE PROGRAMMING ! ~~~ Trust Yourself – and make up your own minds !
- So the big question is whether or not Cuba’s oil discovery will put added pressure on the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba. With the possibility of having another significant oil supplier, what do you think the United States should do?
Another big question, maybe even bigger: Standing in the shoes of Cuba, would you be inclined to sell your oil to the U.S. of A.???
Harbinger of Knowledge? Uhh… Do you believe everything you read?
In direct contradiction to Harbinger’s assessment I offer the following link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKSP34377220081004 wherein it describes how Vietnam just entered a deal with Myanmar to explore for oil there. If it is everywhere, why does Vietnam have to go to Myanmar?
He also mentions that one of the reasons for all of this oil is due to the “abiotic” origins of oil. The oil in Vietnam has been confirmed to NOT be of abiotic origins: http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2005/02feb/Vietnam.cfm Further, abiotic generation of oil is just a hypothesis that is not supported by scientific experiment. Its basically on par with creationism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin
To think that oil is everywhere is a joke. Its a simple fact of geology that it is not everywhere. This is because oil needs geologic formations of a certain type to cause the oil to pool in a certain area. Much the same way cement holds water in a swimming pool instead oftentimes it is naturally formed granite that the pools that contain the oil are made of. Vietnam does hold massive reserves, but it is the fractured granite which contain these reserves that makes it difficult to access the oil.
On top of the issues listed above even if global warming is false the use of petrochemicals is destroying our environment the world over. Im not saying we need to stop using oil but if we can find solutions to our modern technological needs that do not require the use of petroleum on massive scale isn’t that something we should strive for?
Even if the oil reserve is as large as they say. The oil is in the ground. It takes years for the oil to be removed and refined then brought to the market. Cuba is today not independent.
On the note about the Russia well, they are right an oil well today drills can go miles in all directions and have no evidence (only seismic) on the surface. PS Russia still hates the US
And even if they lift the embargo, what makes you think Cuba is interested in selling to the Americans?
They are off-shore and really no father from Brazil or Venezuela than from Miami.
If fact he has a better chance at risk-free (and with the Americans, there’s plenty of strings attached to any deal,) investment opportunities with Brazil or Venezuela.
If Raoul Castro play his cards right he can get back all of the Cuban expatriates and devastate south Florida at no cost to him.
So, when do we invade?
1. If Cuba’s oil reserves are in deep water, like the US reserves. Then to get at it they will have to go to US or possibly UK companies for the technology to extract it.
2. It does not matter who the Venezualans choose to pump oil to. If they choose to sell it to China then that is, less oil the Chinese will have to buy from Venezuala, Sudan, or the middle east and more for other people. Oil is a market commodity.
Hmm . . Now why didn’t we think of offshore reserves too?
Cuba is quite obviously the new nexus of terrorism, and must be invaded promptly! I heard Castro has ties with Al Qaeda.
I’ve been to Cuba, they have lots of oil but it’s all garbage. It’s very heavy and has too much sulfer and crap in it for them to use it in cars.
They can burn it in plants for energy but it smells like rotting eggs for miles and polutes heavily.
I heard that it was not worth refining to gasoline.
Go get the Oil!! I mean..regime change..yeah..for freedom and democracy.
Sorry to oversimplify, but doesn’t anyone find it silly that we won’t trade with Cuba, but we will buy *crap*, literally worthless items, from China, by the boatload?
Either we should be trading with Cuba, or not trading with China. Its horribly inconsistent.
Good for Cuba.
Oh, did the Americans think this was about them?
Best,
Dan
yes, the trade embargo with Cuba is like the “war on drugs,” a worthless and expensive waste of time, energy and money. whatever goal was once deemed worthwhile, that time has passed.
Cuba survived the cut off of Soviet Aid and with Chavez and Morales, has trading partners.
The U.S. is stupid to make enemies of these people. The founders of this nation would have thought it a ridiculous position. It’s good to be a good neighbor and to have one. As far as I can tell, Cuba isn’t a big threat to the U.S. and hasn’t been for decades and decades.
Some people in the U.S. are like the Japanese guys after WWII who were abandoned in the wilderness, still fighting that war, while the rest of the world moved on.
oh, and Harbinger- whatever, your dudeness.
Cuba with oil will doom their dictatorial revolution. There is no way the U.S. is going to see Cuba become an oil producer.
This is a great opportunity to take steps to lift that old bitter resentment embargo! I’m really hoping Obama will take this in consideration in January.
Bye bye US contracts, I am happy Cuba won’t deal with Americans on that, they deserved it. I am very happy for Cubans!!!
…THE IMPENDING OIL CRISIS… PEAK OIL…? EVERYTHING ISN’T SO BAD.
Undiscovered world hydrocarbon reserves are too far from depletion. For example, the world’s second largest discovery in the past 20 years occurred at Brazil’s Tupi field, in November, 2007. Estimated recoverable reserves could reach eight billion barrels. Some early was discovered Sugar Loaf field (25-40 billion barrels).
Swiss-based Manas Petroleum stated that a resource evaluation in north-western Albania had assigned 2.987 billion barrels of oil with 3.014 trillion cubic feet of associated gas.
Oil contents of the US Outer Continental Shelf estimates as about 19 billion barrels and so on.
There are many large undiscovered oil fields (perhaps 40-50%).
Problem is in low success rate in exploration wells.
According to industry figures the rate for the North Sea now are approximately 25%. In other words only one well is successful in four drilled. It significantly brakes industry growing.
However there is a Binary Seismo-Electromagnetic (BSE) technology, which uses new physical mechanism for creation the direct response from hydrocarbon deposits. It can significantly mitigate statistic data cited above because BSE success rate is more then 75% for wildcats with discovering commercial pays. Or to put it another way, failure rate is 25% only (one well in four drilled). So, new method is at least in three (3) times more effective then conventional methods. The BSE survey can find and outline at list 75% of all reserves in any region before any drilling is done or it can add 25-30% reserves in old provinces. http://www.binaryseismoem.weebly.com
I got a little queezy when I read the title of your post. But I couldn’t agree more. We need drastic change in our mind set in this country. We built the Hoover Dam in 5 years during a time of no technology. How far have we gotten on the World Trade Towers in 7 years? Liberalism is killing what made this country great.
Thanks, Great post!
What I do think? I agree with the poster above who states: “Energy Independence should be independence from FOSSIL FUELS”. Electric cars will be the wave of the future, regardless of the impact they will place on our grids. So the real solution lies in how we can generate electricity cleanly, considering all the devices we already have that are running on electricity. Fuel cells are way off…
Having said all that, It bothers me to no end that all “greenies” also appear to be marxists. WHY?
uhhhhhhhhhhh wow… yall type too much and this isnt even what im looking for ;/
Harbinger doesent know what he;s talking about.
He uses most opinion in his study’s and articles.
If its not proof its speculation.
I just discovered SatelliteTV on my PC! Ultra cheap at only $50 once off to get the software and an account on the Internet. I get more channels(in HD I might ad) than I get on cable so tomorrow I reckon I’m going to cancel my cable subscription. Thought I’d share this with you guys, worth to check out.
Biogas will increasingly be a green alternative to other fossil fuels. Finding all of those reserves should also help the wealth of Cuba, maybe travel restrictions will soon be lifted to there from the states as well once all of the good real estate is bought up in Cuba.
It is amazing in our world where short term economics take presidence over the long term good of our planet…