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Bahamas oil drilling could begin by 2012

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As state, local and federal officials brace for a major offshore drilling operation to begin between Cuba in Key West in December, another exploratory well may be drilled a year later in the Bahamas.
The Bahamian and Cuban governments on Oct. 3 signed an agreement delimiting the two nations’ maritime borders after nearly 40 years of negotiations. The move cleared a major obstacle in the way of the Bahamas’ oil exploration goals since leases identified for their potential oil finds are near Cuban waters.

Offshore Oil Spills Cannot Be Eliminated,
So Question Becomes How Best to Minimize and Mitigate

KEY WEST, Florida – It is unlikely the United States can replace fossil fuels with alternative energies for a generation or two, at best. Cutting dependence on foreign oil requires off-shore drilling where it is nearly impossible to guarantee we will never repeat accidents such as “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico or the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

According to industry experts and conservationists alike, the question is how to bring accident rates to a bare minimum and more quickly and effectively mitigate them when they occur.

Solving Earth’s Environmental Challenges

If Friends Talking to Friends Won’t Get It Done, Bring Natural Enemies Together

KEY WEST, Fla. – Ed Russo knows what it means to mediate a cat fight. He’s a project director for Donald Trump.

Russo, therefore, was a natural choice to chair the first annual EcoSummit scheduled for Key West, Nov. 2-5. The Summit is an effort to bring together governments, business, industry and conservationists to tackle some of the greatest environmental challenges the world has ever faced.

Forget Market Share.
Today’s Key Business Phrase is, “Mind Share.”

KEY WEST, Florida – Businesses and industries considering “going green” should not be reluctant to proceed because of the stagnant economy. This, says one noted expert, might be the one thing you can do right now to improve your bottom line.

“This is not a huge, up-front investment for a return way down the road,” says Claude Ouimet, senior vice president and general manager of InterfaceFLOR Canada and Latin America, which constantly researches ways to eliminate the negative environmental impacts of their products and production methods. “It’s no longer a question of the cost of doing it; it’s a question of the cost of not doing it,” Ouimet said.

Ouimet will talk about Interface’s Mission Zero initiatives during the EcoSummit scheduled here Nov. 2-5 (http://ecoweekfloridakeys.com). Mission Zero is the concept of sustainability, using as few new natural resources as possible in the course of doing business.

Read more: Mind Share

The Scarabeo 9 rig is expected to begin drilling south of Key West by mid-December.

BY DAVID GOODHUE

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A giant, semi-submersible oil rig en route from Singapore will probably be drilling in the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba in mid-December. The rig could arrive earlier, but Repsol, the Spanish oil company, wants to wait until after hurricane season ends before it begins drilling.

This latest report on the progress of the Italian-made Scarabeo 9 oil rig comes from Lee Hunt, the chief executive of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, who just returned from a trip to Cuba last week as part of a joint delegation with the environmental group, the Environmental Defense Fund.

Hunt also said that Repsol plans on having one well drilled by the end of the year.

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