Russia and Cuba signed agreements to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and Russia extended a 150-million-U.S.-dollar credit to the island nation, local media reported on Wednesday.
The agreements were signed on Tuesday here in the presence of Russia’s Vice President Igor Sechin and Cuba’s Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas.
Itar-Tass News Agency reported that the credit would be provided during a period of two years.
The four accords with Cuba’s state-owned company Cubapetroleo will let Russian company Zarubezhneft explore for crude in deep waters off Cuba’s coast.
Sechin stressed the importance of the alliance between the two companies, saying bilateral cooperation in economic and trade areas give continuity to the agreements reached during Cuban leader Raul Castro’s visit to Russia in January.
Sechin is on a visit to the Caribbean country. He arrived in Havana Tuesday in the company of many Russian ministers and businessmen after visiting Venezuela and Nicaragua.