Oil, oil everywhere

When it comes to the Castro regime, the gullibility of many otherwise hard-nosed Western journalists never ceases to amaze. Or amuse.

For the past few days, there has been a flurry of reports coming out of Havana talking up the prospect of large quantities of oil being discovered just off the Cuban coast.

For example, Reuters reports today on the possibility that Cuba could discover enough oil deposits to potentially transform the island’s “cash-strapped, oil import-dependent regime” into “a crude exporter able to fund itself well into the future”.

Apparently, the Indians are interested in helping out with exploration. And the Chinese. And even the Canadians …

Sounds too good to be true? Well, yes.

Similar stories appeared out of Havana about three to four years ago, except back then it was the Spaniards offering to help out with the exploration.

Indeed, the Spanish firm Repsol did carry out some extensive drilling in 2004 and while it did find some oil, the company conceded that the quality was far from being of commercial grade.

This time, we will watch with interest.