II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2787 

To permit United States persons to participate in the exploration for and 

the extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any portion of a foreign 

maritime exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the exclusive 

economic zone of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2006 

Mr. CRAIG (for himself, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. ENZI, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BAUCUS, and Mr. 

BURNS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To permit United States persons to participate in the exploration for and the extraction of hydrocarbon resources 

from any portion of a foreign maritime exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the exclusive economic 

zone of the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere 

5 Energy Security Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the United States is the largest oil importer 

4 in the world; 

5 (2) the Federal Government predicts that, by 

6 2025, 68 percent of the oil used in the United 

7 States will be imported; 

(3) 2 8 ⁄3 of the oil reserves of the world are lo9 cated in the politically unstable Middle East and are 

10 controlled by members of the Organization of Petro11 leum Exporting Countries; 

12 (4) global fuel consumption is projected to in13 crease by 100 percent to 150 percent during the 

14 next 20 years, driven largely by the Chinese and In15 dian economies; 

16 (5) that increased demand for fuel— 

17 (A) will place the United States in ever18 greater competition for oil and gas resources; 

19 and 

20 (B) may result in an extension of Chinese 

21 involvement in developing Cuban oil and gas re22 serves to within a few miles of the coastline of 

23 the United States; 

24 (6) the United States adheres to the principle 

25 that, in a case in which the exclusive economic zone 

26 of the United States is contiguous to the exclusive 


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1 economic zone of another country, a point equi2 distant to the maritime baselines of the 2 countries 

3 demarcates the exclusive economic zone of each; 

4 (7) an example of the application of the prin5 ciple described in paragraph (6) is that the exclusive 

6 economic zone of Cuba extends to within— 

7 (A) 52 miles of the Florida Keys at— 

8 (i) south of 24 degrees north latitude; 

9 and 

10 (ii) east of -81 degrees west longitude; 

11 and 

12 (B) 85.4 miles of the Florida peninsula 

13 at— 

14 (i) south of 24 degrees north latitude; 

15 and 

16 (ii) east of -81 degrees west longitude; 

17 (8) Cubapetroleo, the state oil company of 

18 Cuba, recently— 

19 (A) signed an oil production sharing agree20 ment with the China Petroleum and Chemical 

21 Corporation; and 

22 (B) purchased 3 deep-water drilling rigs 

23 from that Chinese state enterprise for use in 

24 the exclusive economic zone of Cuba; 


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1 (9) the exclusive economic zone of Cuba in the 

2 Gulf of Mexico is a 112,000-square-kilometer area 

3 that has been divided into 59 exploration blocks, 

4 each of which is approximately 2,000 square kilo5 meters and an average depth of 2,000 meters (ex6 cept that some of those blocks have a depth of as 

7 great as 4,000 meters); 

8 (10) the northernmost of the exploration blocks 

9 described in paragraph (9) are located off the south10 west coast of the State of Florida; 

11 (11) a United States Geological Survey report 

12 entitled ‘‘Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas 

13 Resources of the North Cuba Basin 2004’’ estimated 

14 that between 1,000,000,000 and 9,300,000,000 bar15 rels of undiscovered oil and between 

16 1,900,000,000,000 and 22,000,000,000,000 cubic 

17 feet of undiscovered natural gas along the northern 

18 coast of Cuba; 

19 (12) the national security strategy of the Presi20 dent recognizes the increasing resource needs of 

21 China by stating that China is ‘‘expanding trade, 

22 but acting as if they can somehow lock up energy 

23 supplies around the world or seek to direct markets 

24 rather than opening them up.’’; 


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1 (13) the United States embargo on Cuba pro2 hibits United States persons from engaging in the 

3 exploration or extraction of hydrocarbon resources 

4 from the exclusive economic zone of Cuba; 

5 (14) United States oil and gas industries are 

6 the world’s leaders in the efficient and environ7 mentally-safe extraction of oil and gas resources 

8 from marine deposits; and 

9 (15) it is in the energy, national security, and 

10 environmental interests of the United States that 

11 the oil and gas companies of the United States be 

12 permitted to operate in the foreign exclusive eco13 nomic zones that is contiguous to the exclusive eco14 nomic zone of the United States. 

15 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to permit 

16 United States persons to participate in the exploration for 

17 and the extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any por18 tion of a foreign maritime exclusive economic zone that 

19 is contiguous to the exclusive economic zone of the United 

20 States. 

21 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF UNITED STATES PERSON. 

22 In this Act, the term ‘‘United States person’’ 

23 means— 


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1 (1) any United States citizen or alien lawfully 

2 admitted for permanent residence in the United 

3 States; and 

4 (2) any person other than an individual, if 1 or 

5 more individuals described in paragraph (1) own or 

6 control at least 51 percent of the securities or other 

7 equity interest in the person. 

8 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPORTS IN9 VOLVING HYDROCARBON RESOURCES BY 

10 UNITED STATES PERSONS. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law (includ12 ing a regulation), United States persons (including agents 

13 and affiliates of those United States persons) may— 

14 (1) engage in any transaction necessary for the 

15 exploration for and extraction of hydrocarbon re16 sources from any portion of any foreign exclusive 

17 economic zone that is contiguous to the exclusive 

18 economic zone of the United States; and 

19 (2) export without license authority all equip20 ment necessary for the exploration for or extraction 

21 of hydrocarbon resources described in paragraph (1). 


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1 SEC. 5. TRAVEL IN CONNECTION WITH AUTHORIZED HY2 DROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRAC3 TION ACTIVITIES. 

4 Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex5 port Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209) is 

6 amended by inserting after subsection (b) the following: 

7 ‘‘(c) GENERAL LICENSE AUTHORITY FOR TRAVEL8 RELATED EXPENDITURES BY PERSONS ENGAGING IN

9 HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION ACTIVI10 TIES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

12 Treasury shall, authorize under a general license the 

13 travel-related transactions listed in section 

14 515.560(c) of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, 

15 for travel to, from or within Cuba in connection with 

16 exploration for and the extraction of hydrocarbon re17 sources in any part of a foreign maritime Exclusive 

18 Economic Zone that is contiguous to the United 

19 States’ Exclusive Economic Zone. 

20 ‘‘(2) PERSONS AUTHORIZED.—Persons author21 ized to travel to Cuba under this section include full22 time employees, executives, agents, and consultants 

23 of oil and gas producers, distributors, and ship24 pers.’’. 

Æ 


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