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Russia to look for oil off Cuban coast

MOSCOW, July 15 (UPI) -- Russian oil company Zarubezhneft has plans to start drilling for oil off the Cuban continental shelf next year, the company's chief executive said from Moscow.

Cuban state oil company Cubapetroleo signed four contracts with Zarubezhneft in November for geological exploration and hydrocarbon production off the Cuban coast. The contracts marked the first time either country engaged in direct oil contracts in 20 years.

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Nikolai Brunich, the chief executive of the Russian oil company, said, "shelf drilling (in Cuba) will start in 2011," Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

Brunich said his country was examining work in four production blocks on the Cuban continental shelf.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency said most countries in the Caribbean basin are net energy importers, with Cuba ranking 60th in terms of total oil production in 2008.

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