Straits of Florida - wikipedia Straits of Florida The Straits of Florida The Florida straits, the L - shaped channel between southeastern Florida and the Bahamas, and the Florida Keys and Cuba. Florida Straits from Space The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait ( Spanish : Estrecho de Florida ) 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 150 km ( 93 mi ) 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 ). The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream, from the Gulf of Mexico. Contents 1 Oil and gas 1.1 Offshore Cuba 1.2 Offshore Bahamas 2 See also 3 References Oil and gas 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 a 1977 treaty between the US and Cuba. Offshore Cuba Cuba has three producing offshore oil fields within 5 km of its north coast opposite Florida. The US Geological Survey estimates that the North Cuba Basin contains 5,500,000,000 barrels ( 870,000,000 m ) of undiscovered petroleum liquids and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, almost all in the offshore part of the basin. 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 60 miles ( 97 km ) from the Florida coast, a claim that was repeated by candidates in favor of offshore drilling. In fact, no drilling was then taking place in that part of Cuban waters. In 2004 the Spanish oil company Repsol - YPF 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. 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. 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. By May 2011 Petrobas had withdrawn from the 2008 agreement due to poor prospects. Offshore Bahamas In 2009 the Falkland Islands - registered company Bahamas 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. 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. See also Cuba portal Florida portal Florida Straits, an action - adventure film starring Fred Ward. Cay Sal Bank Wikimedia Commons has media related to Straits of Florida. Coordinates : 23 ° 56 ′ 03 '' N 80 ° 55 ′ 33 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 23.93417 ° N 80.92583 ° W ﻿ / 23.93417 ; - 80.92583 References Jump up ^ http://www.sea-seek.com/?geo=5858 Jump up ^ United Nations, Maritime boundary - modus vivendi effected by exchange of letters between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba, 27 April 1977, PDF file. Jump up ^ University of Texas, Jorge R Pinon Cervera : Cuba 's energy challenge : a second look, PDF file, retrieved 3 March 2009. Jump up ^ Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the North Cuba Basin, Cuba, 2004, ( 2005 ) US Geological Survey, Fact Sheet. Jump up ^ George Will ( 5 June 2008 ) : The gas price we deserve, accessed 13 March 2009. Jump up ^ Reuters ( 16 April 2008 ) : Cuban off - shore drilling put off until 2009, accessed 11 March 2009. Jump up ^ Time ( 23 October 2008 ) : How Cuba 's oil could change the US embargo Retrieved 17 December 2008. Jump up ^ `` Petrobras signs with Cuba '', World Oil, December 2008, p. 109. Jump up ^ BBC News, Russia to drill for oil off Cuba, 29 July 2009. Jump up ^ `` Petrobas abandons oil exploration in Cuba ''. MercoPress. Retrieved 22 March 2014. Jump up ^ Reuters ( 18 May 2009 ) : BPC Limited and StatoilHydro to reopen Bahamian energy exploration with offshore..., accessed 28 May 2009. Jump up ^ BPC website, Overview of assets, accessed 15 July 2009. Jump up ^ Vernon Clement Jones, `` Deveaux confirms Cuban oil negotiations '', Nassau Guardian, 7 July 2009, accessed 15 July 2009 VIAF : 315160771 GND : 4017586 - 8 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Straits_of_Florida&oldid=810152296 '' Categories : Straits of Florida Bodies of water of Cuba Bodies of water of the Bahamas International straits Bahamas -- United States border Cuba -- United States border Hidden categories : Articles containing Spanish - language text Coordinates on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca বাংলা Башҡортса Беларуская Bikol Central Čeština Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Íslenska Italiano עברית ქართული Қазақша Кыргызча Latviešu Lietuvių Македонски Nederlands नेपाल भाषा 日本 語 Нохчийн Occitan Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Polski Português Русский Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 13 November 2017, at 16 : 55. 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Question: where are the straits of florida located on a map
Answer: 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