I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5353 

To permit United States companies 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2006 

Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. BASS, and Mrs. MUSGRAVE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

A BILL 

To permit United States companies 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 


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

2 in the world; 

3 (2) the Federal Government predicts that, by 

4 2025, 68 percent of the oil used in the United 

5 States will be imported; 

(3) 2 6 ⁄3 of the oil reserves of the world are lo7 cated in the politically unstable Middle East and are 

8 controlled by members of the Organization of Petro9 leum Exporting Countries; 

10 (4) global fuel consumption is projected to in11 crease by 100 percent to 150 percent during the 

12 next 20 years, driven largely by the Chinese and In13 dian economies; 

14 (5) that increased demand for fuel— 

15 (A) will place the United States in ever16 greater competition for oil and gas resources; 

17 and 

18 (B) may result in an extension of Chinese 

19 involvement in developing Cuban oil and gas re20 serves to within a few miles of the coastline of 

21 the United States; 

22 (6) the United States adheres to the principle 

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

24 of the United States is contiguous to the exclusive 

25 economic zone of another country, a point equiVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:26 May 14, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5353.IH H5353

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1 distant to the maritime baselines of the 2 countries 

2 demarcates the exclusive economic zone of each; 

3 (7) an example of the application of the prin4 ciple described in paragraph (6) is that the exclusive 

5 economic zone of Cuba extends to within— 

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

7 (i) south of 24 degrees north latitude; 

8 and 

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

10 and 

11 (B) 85.4 miles of the Florida peninsula 

12 at— 

13 (i) south of 24 degrees north latitude; 

14 and 

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

16 (8) Cubapetroleo, the state oil company of 

17 Cuba, recently— 

18 (A) signed an oil production sharing agree19 ment with the China Petroleum and Chemical 

20 Corporation; and 

21 (B) purchased 3 deep-water drilling rigs 

22 from that Chinese state enterprise for use in 

23 the exclusive economic zone of Cuba; 

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

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


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1 that has been divided into 59 exploration blocks, 

2 each of which is approximately 2,000 square kilo3 meters and an average depth of 2,000 meters (ex4 cept that some of those blocks have a depth of as 

5 great as 4,000 meters); 

6 (10) the northernmost of the exploration blocks 

7 described in paragraph (9) are located off the south8 west coast of the State of Florida; 

9 (11) a United States Geological Survey report 

10 entitled ‘‘Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas 

11 Resources of the North Cuba Basin 2004’’ estimated 

12 that between 1,000,000,000 and 9,300,000,000 bar13 rels of undiscovered oil and between 

14 1,900,000,000,000 and 22,000,000,000,000 cubic 

15 feet of undiscovered natural gas along the northern 

16 coast of Cuba; 

17 (12) the national security strategy of the Presi18 dent recognizes the increasing resource needs of 

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

20 but acting as if they can somehow lock up energy 

21 supplies around the world or seek to direct markets 

22 rather than opening them up.’’; 

23 (13) the United States embargo on Cuba pro24 hibits United States companies from engaging in the 


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1 exploration or extraction of hydrocarbon resources 

2 from the exclusive economic zone of Cuba; 

3 (14) United States oil and gas industries are 

4 the world’s leaders in the efficient and environ5 mentally-safe extraction of oil and gas resources 

6 from marine deposits; and 

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

8 environmental interests of the United States that 

9 the oil and gas companies of the United States be 

10 permitted to operate in the foreign exclusive eco11 nomic zones that is contiguous to the exclusive eco12 nomic zone of the United States. 

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

14 United States companies to participate in the exploration 

15 for and the extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any 

16 portion of a foreign maritime exclusive economic zone that 

17 is contiguous to the exclusive economic zone of the United 

18 States. 

19 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPORTS IN20 VOLVING HYDROCARBON RESOURCES BY 

21 UNITED STATES COMPANIES. 

22 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

23 provision of law (including a regulation), United States 

24 persons (including agents and affiliates of those persons) 

25 may— 


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1 (1) engage in any transaction necessary for the 

2 exploration for and extraction of hydrocarbon re3 sources from any portion of any foreign exclusive 

4 economic zone that is contiguous to the exclusive 

5 economic zone of the United States; and 

6 (2) export without license authority all equip7 ment necessary for the exploration for or extraction 

8 of hydrocarbon resources described in paragraph (1). 

9 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘United 

10 States person’’ means— 

11 (1) any United States citizen or alien lawfully 

12 admitted for permanent residence in the United 

13 States; and 

14 (2) any person other than an individual, if indi15 viduals described in paragraph (1) own or control at 

16 least 51 percent of the securities or other equity in17 terest in such person. 

18 SEC. 4. TRAVEL IN CONNECTION WITH AUTHORIZED HY19 DROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRAC20 TION ACTIVITIES. 

21 Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex22 port Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209) is 

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

24 ‘‘(c) GENERAL LICENSE AUTHORITY FOR TRAVEL25 RELATED EXPENDITURES BY PERSONS ENGAGING IN


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1 HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION ACTIVI2 TIES.— 

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

4 Treasury shall authorize under a general license the 

5 travel-related transactions listed in section 

6 515.560(c) of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, 

7 for travel to, from, or within Cuba in connection 

8 with exploration for, and the extraction of, hydro9 carbon resources in any part of a foreign maritime 

10 exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the 

11 United States’ exclusive economic zone. 

12 ‘‘(2) PERSONS AUTHORIZED.—Persons author13 ized to travel to Cuba under this section include full14 time employees, executives, agents, and consultants 

15 of oil and gas producers, distributors, and ship16 pers.’’. 

Æ 


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