The "Cuban Oil" Dud, Again

October 13, 2010
According to The Oil and Gas Journal:

Experts examine how Cuba's offshore oil could be 'game changer'

Participants [at a recent Inter-American Dialogue/FIU forum] immediately dismissed rumors of the Chinese already drilling off Cuba. But they also indicated that China could eventually play an important role in parts of Cuba's oil industry beyond exploration and production.

China could invest heavily and be the operator of two new refineries which have proposed to process the heavy crude from offshore wells, according to Jorge R. Pinon, a visiting research fellow at CRI's Latin American and Caribbean Center. It's uncertain whether the North Belt offshore region could make Cuba a net oil exporter, but it could break the country's dependent relationship with Venezuela to both countries' satisfaction, he said.

"The same relationship Cuba had with the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s it now has with Venezuela," said Pinon. "I believe China could become its new partner. It's looking for Caribbean refining capacity, including Valero's facility in Aruba, and could use Cuba's new refineries to sell light products to the US and keep the diesel and fuel oil for itself."

Obviously, these "experts" need a refresher in U.S. law, particularly the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, which expressly prohibit such transactions.

Consequently, China will not be investing heavily, nor operating any new Cuban refineries, for it's commercially and logistically unfeasible as long as U.S. sanctions remain.

Thus, this is -- and has always been -- a dud.