Russia to Drill for Oil Off Cuba

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2009 3:17 AM CDT
Russia to Drill for Oil Off Cuba
A car is seen near oil pumps in Santa Cruz del Norte, east of Havana. Cuba currently imports half of its oil from Venezuela at subsidized prices.   (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A government-controlled Russian oil firm will be allowed to search for and extract oil from Cuba's portion of the Gulf of Mexico under a deal signed yesterday, the BBC reports. The Russian firm will work alongside Cuba's state-run oil monopoly a matter of miles off the coast of America. Cuba believes it has some 20 billion barrels of oil in offshore reserves, although US estimates put the total closer to 5 billion.  (More Cuba stories.)

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