Are The Chinese Drilling for Oil off the Coast of Florida? Both Side of the Question

About a month ago, as the debate over coastal drilling began in earnest, Dick Cheney pushed the rhetorical envelope a bit, telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that “oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. We’re not doing it. The Chinese are in cooperation with the Cuban government … Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply. Yet Congress has said … no to drilling off Florida.”

It has been a common Republican talking point, but it’s patently false — the Chinese are not drilling off Cuba’s coasts. The day after Cheney made the bogus claim, the V.P.’s office acknowledged that he was mistaken.

And yet, for some reason, high-profile Republicans can’t stop repeating the claim that’s already been debunked. Maybe conservatives have decided that they can’t win a debate on energy policy on the merits, so misleading people about communists stealing our oil is the better strategy. Here’s failed presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani talking to CNN’s resident right-winger, Glenn Beck, Wednesday night:

 Download | Play   Download | Play (h/t Heather)

Giuliani: “You look at Cuba. Cuba is going to allow China to drill for oil within 80 miles of Florida. And Florida had a 300-mile limit. So in essence, we have China drilling for American oil.”

Maybe it’s my imagination, but it almost seems as if high-profile Republicans have been repeating the false claim more now that it has been debunked.

Looks like even Senator Norm Coleman is getting in on the fun.

TPM has been keeping track of all the examples, and there are some real doozies in there. Some Republicans have altered the myth a little — I think Giuliani is the first to suggest that the Cubans and the Chinese are taking our oil — but they’re all repeating a charge that isn’t remotely true. Either they don’t know what they’re talking about, or they know the claim is false and repeat it anyway. At this point, it’s hard to know which is the case.

Or think straight, either.

Do you want to know the problem with the Chinese taking offshore oil from Cuba while American oil drillers sit on their hands because pansy global warming freaks won't let us punch more holes in the ocean and we pony up $4 a gallon to fill the family Hummer?

The problem is it isn't true.

To see how deeply we are addicted to oil, check out the election-year pandering of the politicians promising to restore our God-given right to cheap gas by making sure the Chinese don't buy Cuba's.

What a pathetic country we have become. It's like watching a drunk search through his pockets for enough nickels and dimes to buy one more quart of Ripple. Only, we're the drunk.

We think we could solve our troubles if we started drilling on the outer continental shelf. Then we might be able to lower the price of gas to $3.98 gallon. Twenty years from now.

That's because oil is priced in a global market, where the extra production would amount to a tiny drop in the world's bucket -- about 200,000 barrels a day. Whoopee.

Contrast that miniscule difference with what might be achieved by improving fuel efficiencies for cars and light trucks.

According to the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, the United States could cut consumption by 3.3 million barrels a day (16 times the effect of expanded drilling) if the average auto fuel efficiency was 32 miles per gallon.

WASHINGTON, May 8 — In 1977, the United States and Cuba signed a treaty that evenly divided the Florida Straits to preserve each country's economic rights. They included access to vast underwater oil and gas fields on both sides of the line.  Offshore Drilling Near Cuba

Now, with energy costs soaring, plans are under way to drill this year — but all on the Cuban side.

With only modest energy needs and no ability of its own to drill, Cuba has negotiated lease agreements with China and other energy-hungry countries to extract resources for themselves and for Cuba.

Cuba's drilling plans have been in place for several years, but now that China, India and others are involved and fuel prices are unusually high, a growing number of lawmakers and business leaders in the United States are starting to complain. They argue that the United States' decades-old ban against drilling in coastal waters is driving up domestic energy costs and, in this case, is giving two of America's chief economic competitors access to energy at the United States' expense.

"This is the irony of ironies," Charles T. Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said of Cuba's collaboration with China and India. "We have chosen to lock up our resources and stand by to be spectators while these two come in and benefit from things right in our own backyard."

The United States Geological Survey estimates that the energy field on Cuba's side alone may have 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That much energy is equivalent to just a few months of the United States' total energy consumption.

Republicans keep repeating the claim that the Chinese and/or Cubans are drilling for oil off the coast the Florida. Myopic, traitorous, fish hugging Democrats are letting communists suck up the black inky lifeblood out of the Gulf that rightly belongs to us! While I'll bet if you squint real hard you can almost see the rigs from Sloppy Joe's in Key West.

The argument is now so prevalent I thought I'd do some googling to find out what's really going on. Besides that I thought I read somewhere the Chinese have signed some contracts with Cuba and may actually start drilling some exploratory rigs in the Gulf off Cuba as soon as next year. I envision wingnuts claiming "we were right all along" if that comes to pass. 

HAVANA, CUBA — Imagine oil rigs drilling in deep waters just 45 miles off the coast of South Florida. Refineries process the oil in Cuba and sell it across the Caribbean and beyond. Canadian and Mexican companies supply billions of dollars in equipment and services.

This could happen, as Havana is inviting foreign companies to explore its probable oil and natural gas reserves while Washington's embargo against the communist-led island keeps U.S. companies locked out.

South Florida is watching closely amid debate over drilling near its shores and concerns about U.S. energy policy. Oil companies increasingly seek to tap Cuba's deep-water reserves now that oil prices are soaring and profits are more likely.

"In 34 years following Cuba, I've never seen an issue like this — so strategically important to the United States," said Kirby Jones, president of Washington-based Alamar Associates, who advises U.S. companies on Cuba and opposes the U.S. embargo.

Cuba is courting oil investors to slash its dependence on foreign fuels. The cash-strapped island can't afford to import all it needs, especially with today's oil prices topping $100 a barrel. The island long relied on the Soviet Union for subsidized oil and now depends on cheap supplies from Venezuela that it pays for with services from its doctors and other professionals.

Havana began opening to foreign investment in the early 1990s after the loss of Soviet aid, and Cuba now produces almost half the oil and natural gas it consumes. It drills mainly for heavy crude on or near shore with help from Canadian companies.

But the big prize lies in deep-water reservoirs miles off the north shore in the Gulf of Mexico. By some estimates, the area holds almost as much oil and natural gas as the coveted Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska — enough to meet Cuban demand for years.

Havana is forging deals with companies from Norway, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Spain and other nations to explore dozens of its 59 deep-water blocks. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited in January to seal contracts for Petrobras, the global leader in deep-water drilling.

Analysts say it will take several more years and hundreds of millions of dollars for the companies to figure out where to drill in waters often a mile deep.