Repsol looks set for the exit door in Cuba after the Spanish oil major recently bit dust at a wildcat well, according to a report.
The company is not planning any further probes after the failure of the Jaguey well in block N27 which is 35 kilometres north of Havana and 95 kilometres south of Key West, Florida.
“We’re not going to drill any more … I’m almost certain we won’t do any more activities there,” Reuters quoted chairman and chief executive Antonio Brufau as saying on Tuesday.
Repsol led drilling of the well with Saipem’s Scarabeo 9 semi-submersible drilling rig, and was joined by partners Statoil and ONGC Videsh of India. The rig was operating in 1600 metres of water with a projected total depth of 6100 metres.
“Unfortunately, it was an unsuccessful well,” Repsol spokesman Kristian Rix told Upstream earlier this month. “We’re plugging and abandoning it.”
Repsol in 2004 drilled the Yamagua well in Cuba, which also failed to find commercial oil.
Cuba’s push to explore its waters represented an energy independence opportunity for the Communist nation, which relies on closely allied Venezuela for the vast majority of its oil supply.
But the well also caused a political and diplomatic uproar due to the US’ decades-long trade embargo with Cuba.
Cuban sources have told Upstream at least six deep-water wells may be drilled by 2013.
The island nation has estimated as much as 20 billion barrels of oil could lie in its Gulf of Mexico waters, according to Reuters. US estimates are more modest at 5 billion barrels.
