Obama blocks US from drilling off our coasts-Cuba moves in

"WASHINGTON — Marathon Oil Corp. is moving to cancel its contract to lease one of Noble Corp.'s offshore drilling rigs - joining a list of operators wriggling out of rig rental agreements amid fears that it could take months for deep-water exploration to resume in the Gulf of Mexico.

At least five deep-water drilling rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the Obama administration's May 27 decision to halt exploration in more than 500 feet of water. Although the government lifted that moratorium on Oct. 12, it has yet to approve any new deep-water well projects that would have been blocked by the ban."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bus ... 23845.html

Right now oil is plentiful and cheap. I don't care if we lock up our offshore oil so we'll have it in the future when better technology exists and the oil is more valuable.

Good point, ckm8!

There will not be a USA in the future, if we allow libs to continue to run this country. So, drill for it now, just like sarah says "drill, baby drill."

Right now oil is plentiful and cheap. I don't care if we lock up our offshore oil so we'll have it in the future when better technology exists and the oil is more valuable.

But we went into Iraq for the oil, right?????

What a joke! Right now oil is plentiful and cheap.

But aren't we in a recession? Aren't there approimately 10% of the population out of work? Wouldn't cheaper oil be a boon to the economy? You don't care!!

:thumbsup:

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditi ... 08?sp=true


U.S. urged to cooperate with Cuba on offshore oil
Thu Sep 8, 2011 2:56am GMT Print | Single Page[-] Text [+] * U.S. oil spill response plan with Cuba needed

* Cuba to begin offshore drilling in November

* Florida lawmakers opposing Cuba oil plans

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The United States must work with its ideological foe Cuba on joint safety plans as the communist island readies to begin exploration of its still-untapped Gulf of Mexico oil fields, the co-chief of the U.S. BP oil spill investigation said on Wednesday.

William Reilly told reporters the United States should make its expertise and equipment available in case of an accident when a Chinese-made rig begins drilling for oil later this year in Cuban waters about 60 miles (96 km) from the Florida Keys.

Experts have said a Cuban spill, if not contained, could carry oil to Florida and up the U.S. east coast.

But the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents American companies from operating on the island.

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditi ... 08?sp=true


U.S. urged to cooperate with Cuba on offshore oil
Thu Sep 8, 2011 2:56am GMT Print | Single Page[-] Text [+] * U.S. oil spill response plan with Cuba needed

* Cuba to begin offshore drilling in November

* Florida lawmakers opposing Cuba oil plans

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The United States must work with its ideological foe Cuba on joint safety plans as the communist island readies to begin exploration of its still-untapped Gulf of Mexico oil fields, the co-chief of the U.S. BP oil spill investigation said on Wednesday.

William Reilly told reporters the United States should make its expertise and equipment available in case of an accident when a Chinese-made rig begins drilling for oil later this year in Cuban waters about 60 miles (96 km) from the Florida Keys.

Experts have said a Cuban spill, if not contained, could carry oil to Florida and up the U.S. east coast.

But the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents American companies from operating on the island.

kneb wrote:

The Viking wrote: So now Cuba and The Castro Regime is partnering with China, Spain, France, and Canada and will begin drilling off the coast of Florida next year...

It depends on the writer's definition of what "off the coast of Florida" means. When I read the original story which was several clicks deep in the linked article I learned the area they want to drill is "22 miles north of Havana and 65 miles south of the Marquesas Keys."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/29/1 ... -than.html

I suppose 65 miles south of the Marquesas Keys could be framed as "off the coast of Florida" by some. But it's 3 times the distance from the Florida Keys as it is from the Cuban coast.

The Wall Street Journal gave this description of the drilling area:

"A foreign oil company plans to drill off Cuba, just 60 miles south of Key West, the Wall Street Journal has quoted Repsol spokeswoman Maria Ritter as saying."

By point of reference, the Marquesas Keys are about 20 due west of Key West. Take a right there, go 65 miles south and you are at the drilling area that is "off the coast of Florida" according to the obviously slanted original article. You're also 22 miles from Cuba at that point.

It seems like a stretch to tie the Cuba drilling thing into something connected with the U.S. drilling moratorium. It appears they are drilling about half the distance from their shore than BP was drilling Deepwater Horizon and could do so whether there is a U.S. drilling moratorium or not because it's in their EEZ.

By virtue of the Law of the Sea, which the US has signed but not ratified, each nation controls an Exclusive Economic Zone that extends 200 nautical miles from its shore. The EEZ confers exclusive rights to a nation to explore and produce minerals, including oil and gas. In areas within 200 nautical miles of two or more nations, the territorial line is drawn equidistant from the shores of the two nations. (That would be about 45 miles south of the Keys for the U.S. and 45 miles north Cuba for that nation).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_o ... ted_States

So how did a location 65 miles south of the Keys but only 25 miles off the coasts of Cuba (in their own Exclusive Economic Zone) end up being "off the Florida coast"?

That's just one "fact" I question.

Another is "the no zone." Apparently, from the wikipedia article above, "the no zone" was put into place by another president who blocked drilling for a decade:

"In 1990, President George H. W. Bush issued an executive moratorium restricting federal offshore leasing to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Alaska. The moratorium banned federal leasing through the year 2000 off the East Coast, West Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico (offshore Florida Gulf Coast), and the Northern Aleutian Basin of Alaska. In 1998, President Bill Clinton extended the moratorium through 2012. In July 2008, President George W. Bush rescinded the executive order."

Dang... There you go polluting a good right-wing rant with facts again...

Florida and the Atlantic coast would be considered downstream, (gulf stream) from Cuba so the US should care about oil drilling there.