ABOVE: On-shore Cuban oil
rig
An article in the National Journal reveals that OFAC recently granted a license to permit the International Association of Drilling Contractors to send a U.S. delegation to Cuba to train the Cubans on proper off-shore drilling techniques. The exception to the embargo was prompted by concerns that an oil spill by the Cubans could be carried by currents in the Gulf of Mexico to U.S. waters and the U.S. coastline. The same request by IADC had been denied in December by OFAC, but recent events obviously led to a change of heart by the agency. The thinking, of course, was that since the Cubans are going to drill in any event, we ought to do our best to prevent collateral damage when they botch things up.
The same concerns motivated a provision in the Domestic Energy Security Act which would have amended the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (“TSRA”) to permit U.S. companies to drill in Cuban coastal waters. That legislative proposal is now pretty much dead on arrival given that it is unlikely that anyone will think it is a good idea to ban U.S. companies from drilling anywhere in the Gulf except for off the coast of Cuba.
Cliff,
Call me slow today, but I have now re-read the last sentence of this post about ten times, and I’m still not understanding it. Somehow, it looks to me like you got too many negatives or something in there. If the proposed amendment to TSRA would have permitted US companies to drill in Cuban waters, I can’t reconcile that with the last sentence.
When yo have time, could you take me by the hand and show me the way?
Thanks – and thanks for the blog. It tends to be on of the highlights of my day.
Regards,
Steve
@Steve: Perhaps the sentence isn’t as clear as it could be. I wrote it and posted it on an early-morning flight back from Phoenix (Don’t you love in-flight WiFi?), so I might not have been firing on all cylinders. The idea was that people probably wouldn’t want to amend TSRA to permit U.S. drilling in Cuban waters while at the same time banning drilling by U.S. companieseverywhere else in the Gulf in reaction to the BP spill. Did that clear up what I meant?