The Hill News

To protect the national interest â€" and for the sake of Florida's beaches and the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem â€" it is time to stop sticking our heels in the sand when it comes to U.S.-Cuba policy.
 
Before the end of the year, a Chinese-made drilling platform known as Scarabeo 9 is expected to arrive in the Gulf.  Once it is there, Cuba and its foreign partners, including Spain’s Repsol, will begin using it to drill for oil in waters deeper than Deepwater Horizon’s infamous Macondo well.  The massive rig, manufactured to comply with U.S.-content restrictions at a cost of $750 million, will cost Repsol and other companies $407,000 per day to lease for exploration.
 
They are taking this financial risk because Cuba needs the oil and its partners â€" Spain, Norway, Russia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada, Angola, Venezuela, and possibly China â€" believe that drilling in waters said to contain undiscovered reserves of approximately 5 billion ba! rrels of oil is good business.

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