CAPITAL: HAVANA
MONETARY UNIT: PESO
REFINING CAPACITY: 301,400 B/D
OIL PRODUCTION: 42,000 B/D
OIL RESERVES: 2.6 BILLION BBL
GAS RESERVES: 636 BCF
The Cuban government opened offshore blocks to exploration agreements during 2000, and Repsol YPF, Madrid, was the first to sign an agreement.
The open areas are north, northwest, and southwest of the island in the western Straits of Florida, southeastern Gulf of Mexico, and northwestern Caribbean Sea.
Cubapetroleo divided the area into 59 blocks of 2,000 sq km each and offered production-sharing contracts. The blocks are in 200 to 3,000 m of water.
The agreement with Repsol covered Blocks N25, N26, N27, N28, N29, and N36. It also called for joint refining, marketing, and electricity production. Cuba's 76,000 b/cd refinery at Cienfuegos, about 300 km southeast of Havana, was to be overhauled as part of the agreement.
Cuba's oil production rate was growing mainly from development of north coast heavy oil fields.
Sherritt International Corp., Toronto, said its gross oil production in Cuba in the quarter ended June 30 averaged 31,818 b/d, compared with 18,801 b/d in the 1999 second quarter. Cuba's total oil production was reported as high as 50,000 b/d during the year.
Cuba "appears to have a favorable geological setting for massive accumulations of oil and gas," Sherritt said. Sherritt in February 2000 produced its 25 millionth bbl of operated cumulative oil production since beginning operations on the island in 1992.
