US energy companies have long chafed at their government's restrictions making Cuban territory off-limits to them while Canadians, Europeans, and South Americans cruise Cuban waters in search of offshore drilling opportunities. Now, it seems they were right to fret. On December 25, Cuba's President Fidel Castro announced that two Canadian energy companies had discovered oil in the Gulf of Mexico, in an area under Cuba's control. Mr Castro disclosed that Montreal-based Pebercan and Toronto-based Sherritt International had identified estimated reserves of 100 million barrels in deposits expected to produce oil as early as next year. Development by the Canadian companies has the potential of altering the dynamics of oil exploration in the Gulf, one of the chief sources of oil for the United States.
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