India to explore for oil in Cuba
Havana: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has signed an agreement with the Cuba Petroleum to explore the country's Gulf of Mexico waters for oil. Cuba Petroleum director Fidel Rivero Prieto said upon signing the agreement that six foreign companies had signed for 16 of 59 blocks in Cuba's Gulf waters, two companies more than previously announced.

ONGC's overseas arm ONGC Videsh has signed joint production agreements for blocks 34 and 35 covering 4,300 square kilometers (1,660 square miles).

The US Geological Survey has estimated that the North Cuba basin could contain some 4.6 billion barrels of oil, with a high-end potential of 9.3 billion barrels.

US companies are barred from exploring for oil in communist Cuba's 43,250-square-mile (112,000-square-km) offshore zone opened for foreign exploration in 1999, under trade sanctions enforced against President Fidel Castro's revolutionary government since 1962.

The two new blocks signed for on Sunday are just below the other blocks and closest to the northwest coast where heavy crude is pumped from on shore.
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Chennai, Kolkata airports upgrade put on fast track
New Delhi: The modernisation of Chennai and Kolkata airports has been put on the fast track. The Central government is planning to complete consultations with the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal governments to finalise the method to be adopted for the modernisation.

The Tamil Nadu government is said to be keen to follow the same route for modernisation as has been adopted for Delhi and Mumbai. In the case of Kolkata, however, there are divergent views that seem to be appearing. But one thing is clear that the traffic projections do not warrant a greenfield airport. Therefore, it is difficult to say just yet as to whether we would follow one or more routes for developing the two airports," officials added.
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