HAVANA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- In order to reduce its dependence on imports, Cuba is seeking to attract foreign investment to its oil industry, particularly in offshore exploration and drilling, a high-ranking official said Wednesday.
"Almost half of the country's energy demands are generated from domestic production. Our main goal is to increase that percentage with the help of foreign companies in the near future," said Roberto Suarez, general director of the island's largest oil company, Cuba Petrol Union (CUPET), at the opening of a business forum on the country's oil and gas industry.
The three-day Cuba Energy Oil and Gas Summit 2017 hosted by CUPET along with the British Department of International Trade gathered oil industry officials from 150 companies of 12 countries.
CUPET produces around 4 million tons of equivalent oil a year, which is used mainly at old power plants, while 97 percent of the island's gas production is used for electricity generation and house consumption.
Though Cuba has not made any major oil discoveries since 2002, the state company has been able to maintain a stable production due to constant optimization in the oil fields under exploitation.
"Our company's fundamental oil exploration activities lie along what we call the North Belt, an area where recent discoveries have been made. This zone is about 200 km long east of Havana up to the Hicacos Peninsula," said Osvaldo Lopez, director of exploration at CUPET.
The area is where important exploration efforts are made with high hopes of finding important oil reserves, Lopez said.
"We're open to foreign investment in the zone divided in 45 blocks in order to intensify explorations in shallow waters and on shore," he added.
Australia's Melbana Energy Ltd., one of the few Western energy companies working in Cuba, said it identified potential oil reserves in Block 9 of this zone, which is estimated to contain 8.2 billion barrels.
"We're very optimistic and hope that by mid-2018, our company can drill up to 2 wells in this block, where we believe there are high possibilities to find commercial oil," Peter Strickland, managing director at Melbana, told Xinhua.
Strickland said initial studies show the block is expected to hold approximately 600 million barrels in store.
"It contains a lot of oil but it does come with uncertainty. And each prospect might have success or failure. It's not until we drill that we'll find out if that potential is real or not," he said.
CUPET is also looking for partners to introduce new technology to the industry and continue deep-water exploration in Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts have estimated this 112,000-km-square-large area has reserves equivalent to 22 billion barrels of oil.
Since 1999, CUPET along with foreign companies has tried four times to explore oil in this area but failed. Currently, a fifth deep-water exploration attempt is about to start.
Producing an average of 80,000 barrels of oil per day but with a daily consumption of 120,000 barrels, Cuba cannot make ends meet. Since 2003, its energy system thus has depended heavily on subsidized oil from Venezuela.
However, the deep economic crisis in the South American country has reduced oil shipments to around 55,000 barrels a day and thus has forced the Cuban government to look for alternative sources.
