Cuba seeks new offshore oil, gas deals.

Cuba hopes to sign "a significant number" of new offshore oil and gas exploration contracts in a 43,243-sq-mile area in the Gulf of Mexico, just north of its westernmost provinces, Oil Daily reported Sept. 27.

The newsletter, quoting Cuba's Communist Party daily Granma, says the area--which the Castro government has designated as a "special economic zone"--has been divided into 59 blocks that can be licensed for development to international oil companies.

"The early efforts of foreign firms that are already actively drilling in the area have produced surprisingly hopeful results," says the newsletter, noting that in Cuba's Block 7, Canadian oil company Pebercan's Canasi-7 and Canasi-6 wells have reached a combined output of just under 11,000 barrels a day.

This new production has boosted total output at Block 7 to 20,000 b/d--over a third of Cuba's total oil production.

Experts now say current crude production has surpassed 55,000 b/d and could hit 60,000 b/d by year-end. Gas production, meanwhile, is nearly 53 million cubic feet per day.

Cuban state oil company Cupet says that based on current trends, its combined oil and gas production this year will reach 78,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which would be a 16% increase over last year's 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.