Template:Short description Template:Infobox body of water
The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait (Template:Langx) is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys (U.S.) and Cuba. It is 93 mi (150 km) wide at the narrowest point between Key West and the Cuban shore, and has been sounded to a depth of 6,000 feet (1,800 m).<ref>Strait of Florida Template:Webarchive www.sea-seek.com</ref> The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream, from the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil and gasEdit
Five wells were drilled in state waters south of the Florida Keys from 1947 to 1962. Gulf Oil drilled three wells in federal waters south of the Florida Keys in 1960 and 1961. All the wells were dry holes.
The boundary between the Exclusive Economic Zones of the US and Cuba is halfway between Cuba and Florida, as determined by the 1977 Cuba–United States Maritime Boundary Agreement.<ref>United Nations, Maritime boundary - modus vivendi effected by exchange of letters between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba Template:Webarchive, 27 April 1977, PDF file.</ref>
Offshore CubaEdit
Cuba has three producing offshore oil fields within 5 km of its north coast opposite Florida.<ref>University of Texas, Jorge R Pinon Cervera: Cuba's energy challenge: a second look Template:Webarchive, PDF file, retrieved 3 March 2009.</ref> The US Geological Survey estimates that the North Cuba Basin contains Template:Convert of undiscovered petroleum liquids and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, almost all in the offshore part of the basin.<ref>Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the North Cuba Basin, Cuba, 2004, (2005) US Geological Survey, Fact Sheet.</ref>
The issue of allowing oil and gas exploration offshore Florida became a hotly contested topic in the 2008 US elections. In a column published 5 June 2008, syndicated columnist George Will wrote that a Chinese oil company was then drilling in Cuban waters Template:Convert from the Florida coast, a claim that was repeated by candidates in favor of offshore drilling.<ref>George Will (5 June 2008): The gas price we deserve Template:Webarchive, accessed 13 March 2009.</ref> In fact, no drilling was then taking place in that part of Cuban waters.
In 2004 the Spanish oil company Repsol drilled in deep Cuban waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys, and found an oil deposit; the deposit was judged noncommercial, and the hole was plugged.<ref>Reuters (16 April 2008): Cuban off-shore drilling put off until 2009 Template:Webarchive, accessed 11 March 2009.</ref> In October 2008, Cuba signed an agreement with the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, which provides for Petrobras to drill for oil and gas in deep waters off the north shore of Cuba.<ref>Time (23 October 2008): How Cuba's oil could change the US embargo Retrieved 17 December 2008.</ref><ref>"Petrobras signs with Cuba", World Oil, December 2008, p.109.</ref> In July 2009, Cuba signed an agreement with the Russian government giving the Russian oil company Zarubezhneft oil exploration rights off the north shore of Cuba.<ref>BBC News, Russia to drill for oil off Cuba Template:Webarchive, 29 July 2009.</ref> By May 2011 Petrobras had withdrawn from the 2008 agreement due to poor prospects.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Offshore BahamasEdit
In 2009 the Falkland Islands-registered company Bharat Petroleum Company Ltd. and Norwegian company Statoil announced a joint venture to drill for oil in Bahamian waters north of Cuba and southeast of Florida.<ref>Reuters (18 May 2009): BPC Limited and StatoilHydro to reopen Bahamian energy exploration with offshore..., accessed 28 May 2009.</ref><ref>BPC website, Overview of assets Template:Webarchive, accessed 15 July 2009.</ref> The government of the Bahamas has indicated that applications for offshore drilling are on hold pending negotiations with Cuba, the United States, and the Turks and Caicos Islands on the exact boundaries between their respective Exclusive Economic Zones.<ref>Vernon Clement Jones, "Deveaux confirms Cuban oil negotiations" Template:Webarchive, Nassau Guardian, 7 July 2009, accessed 15 July 2009</ref>
CrossingEdit
The swim across the strait was performed by Australian Susie Maroney (with Shark cage diving) in 1997 and American Diana Nyad (without shark cage) in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Nyad, who was 64 years old at the time of the attempt, took 52 hours and 54 minutes to cover the Template:Convert between Havana and Key West<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> .
See alsoEdit
- Florida Straits, an action-adventure film starring Fred Ward.
- Cay Sal Bank