This refinery in Cienfuegos, Cuba, is part of the oil infrastructure Venezuela has assisted in building. (Credit: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)

As President Obama re-examines the nation's offshore oil drilling options, some observers are hoping one area, currently off limits, proves too tempting to overlook: Cuba.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated in 2004 that drilling efforts in Cuba's territorial waters could yield at least 5 billion barrels of oil. Carol Graham, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institute, put the find in context as "equal to major fields in Alaska people want to drill."

One Senate bill that's been idling since last year seeks to take advantage. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mary Landrieu, D-La., included a provision in their Domestic Energy Security Act that would lift part of the Cuban embargo to allow oil executives to conduct business in the communist nation. The bill would expand the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, which enacted limited exceptions in the embargo for medicine and agriculture.

The bill's main provision is to share government revenue with coastal states that allow offshore drilling. This leaves little hope for the measure getting out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, since Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., opposes the concept.

Aaron Saunders, communications director for Landrieu, expected a "reflex reaction" against loosening the embargo to keep the bill from moving out of committee but hoped it would inform future legislation to open trade with Cuba.

"The embargo hasn't done anything to shake Fidel Castro's grip on power, not by one iota," Saunders said. "In the past it cost us very little strategically, but here is a case where it could cost us a great deal."

Small discoveries of heavy crude in recent years have led to a Cuban oil rush, with countries from across the world lining up to build rigs in Cuba's territorial Gulf of Mexico waters.

Yet companies have not begun drilling for fear of steep development costs. Cuba lacks advanced refineries to produce its heavy crude, along with industrial oil expertise to use them. The operations would be even more expensive because the embargo restricts the involvement of refineries, shipping and experienced personnel from America. Saunders advocated American involvement for fear that inadequate Cuban regulations and limited drilling experience by the countries that have signed contracts, such as Vietnam, could result in accidents that pollute the nearby Florida Keys.

"We feel that a greater reliance on American technology to develop their resources could have a positive influence on the Cuban culture," said Robert Dillon, spokesman for Murkowski. "American companies are the best equipped and experienced to deal with offshore drilling like this, and we feel that American oil workers are missing out."

While the exact quality and location of the oil is still undefined, Brazilian national oil company Petrobras is finalizing a billion-dollar deal with Cuba, according to John Kavulich, senior policy adviser for the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

Venezuela and China have been providing aid and loans to China for years and are already aiding Cuba's search for oil, with Venezuela providing two-thirds of Cuba's oil consumption.

Kavulich said oil development is Cuba's chance to be more commercially independent, with a well-rounded economy, but "as long as Venezuela and also China in a lesser role continue aid, then the government of Cuba has absolutely no incentive to make any changes."

Jorge Pinon, former president of Amoco Latin America, agrees that the Castro government would profit and continue its policies if it successfully commercialized its oil. Yet he said this would also free Cuba from the implicit policy influence of the 100,000 barrels of oil that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez donates every day.

"If Cuba finds oil then they would not have that extra obstacle of Chavez threatening to pull away the oil if Cuba decided to work closer with America," Pinon said. "The country is bankrupt. If you want a Cuba of the future to really have democratic ways, then you want them to find oil and work on it with us."