The latest attempt to find oil and gas offshore Cuba has failed. The Catoche-1X exploration well drilled by the joint venture of Gazprom and Petronas has failed to find commercial volumes of oil.
It is the second failure this year, having followed the disappointing well drilled on the Jaguey block north of Havana.
According to Cuban national company Cubapetroleo, oil was encountered but that it was not of a sufficient volume to warrant further investigation. But the drilling rig Scarabeo 9 did encounter an active petroleum system that may extend into all four of the JV’s blocks northwest of Pinar del Rio, but its geology apparently prevents it from being considered commercial.
However, Petronas and Gazprom Neft intend to evaluate all available data for Catoche-1X and to undertake a 3D seismic acquisition over most of the prospective sectors identified in an earlier 2D survey.