Drilling for Oil off the Coast of Cuba:
What Would the Oil Bring?

Aug 2, 2004

Oil companies have long suspected that off the coast of Cuba there could be substantial oil reserves–just as in a few other parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently, off the coast of Cuba a large Spanish oil company, Repsol, has been drilling for oil in mile-deep waters. And a Canadian oil company, called Sherrit, is considering looking for oil in other regions near Cuba.

Now, wouldn’t you know it, U.S. oil companies are coming forward, saying they would like the U.S. government to rescind the sanctions that have strangled Cuba’s economy for the last 45 years. In other words, they want their chance to make big profits too.

Leading the charge is none other than Halliburton, the company that was once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. John Gibson, current president of Halliburton’s energy services group, recently said that he favored lifting sanctions against Cuba, as well as Libya and Iran. Not for humanitarian reasons, of course: "There are foreign companies making money in those countries, and I think American companies should have a shot at those markets as well."

Might this lead to the U.S. lifting sanctions? Maybe. But if the Cuban people are hoping their oil reserves might lead to better living conditions, all they have to do is look to the last country Halliburton pushed to get into–Iraq.