Oil rig arrives off Havana; drilling 70 miles from Keys

An offshore oil drilling operation has begun less than 90 miles from the coast of Key West. The Scarabeo 9 giant, semi-submersible rig finished its months-long trek from China and is now visible from the shores of Havana, Cuba, according to Jorge Piñon, visiting research fellow at the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. It arrived in the Florida Straits late last week. Safety inspectors with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Interior gave the $750 million platform a passing grade earlier this month in Trinidad and Tobago. It set sail for Cuba for the final leg of its journey on Jan. 11. Drilling is expected to get under way immediately by Spanish energy company Repsol. The exploration operation will occur about 70 miles from the Keys, Piñon said. Repsol is paying Eni S.p.A., the Italian company that owns the rig, $511,000 every day its workers are aboard the vessel. Repsol is the first of several international companies that will use the Scarabeo 9 to look for oil in the Florida Straits, where the U.S. Geological Survey estimates about five billion barrels of oil sit under the ocean floor. The Cuban government thinks the amount is much higher — around 20 billion barrels...more