PETROBRAS TO DRILL WILDCAT WELL.

Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras, carrying Cuba's hopes of discovering a major, good-quality find, plans to start drilling an exploration well off the north-central Cuban coast in mid-November, reports CANA-Reuters (September 6, 2000). Demarco Jorge

Epifanio, the head of Petrobras' Cuban subsidiary Brasoil Cuba, said November 18 had been set as the target date to begin the two-month drilling operation on a tiny offshore coral key north of central Ciego de Avila province:

"This really is a wildcat well. It is a high-risk bid -- we estimate the probability of success at below 15%," Epifanio said, adding that "if we do find something, it will be big". Brasoil estimates the structure could contain possible reserves of 700 million barrels of oil of around 25 degrees API, lighter than the heavy sulfurous crude oil traditionally found on Cuba's northern coast further to the west;

Over the last decade, oil firms from Canada, Britain, France and Sweden have been helping Cuba to develop its existing wells and search for new reserves. Although Cuba's oil output has quadrupled over this period to around 50,000 barrels per day, a big find of good-quality crude has so far eluded oilmen. Such a find could make Cuba self-sufficient in energy and would have a major impact on its economy.