Former IADC president to join panel on US-Cuba cooperation on offshore E&P, spill prevention
By Joanne Liou, editorial coordinator
IADC’s former president, Dr Lee Hunt, will join a panel of industry leaders and experts in a discussion about the status of US-Cuba engagement and cooperation on oil exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico and what measures have been adopted to prevent and respond to spills. “There is a serious concern in Washington about Cuba’s ability to prevent and respond to a major oil spill and the US government’s readiness to step up,” Dr Hunt said.
The Center for International Policy is hosting the discussion as six countries plan to drill test wells offshore Cuba in the next 18 months. Since February, Repsol has been exploring about 16 miles offshore Cuba, about 70 miles south of Key West.
Other panelists include William K. Reilly, co-chairman of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Dan Whittle, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Cuba Program; Robert L. Muse, attorney, expert on laws and regulations governing the US embargo against Cuba; and Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, specialist in Cuban energy development.
“Oil Drilling Off Cuba’s North Coast: Must the US do more to forestall the impact of a major spill?” will take place at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, at 9am on 10 May.
