Cuba's northern basin has been coveted by U.S. oil giants for years and was once again the topic of much political debate following the 2004 U.S. Geological Survey, which said that the island's northern seabed was resting on some 5 billion barrels of oil.

While 5 billion barrels is certainly enticing enough, Havana maintains the oil reserves total more like 20 billion, an amount that would place the poor Caribbean nation among the world's top 15 oil producers were the basin tapped by offshore oil drilling experts like Brazil's Petrobras, which in October inked a deal with Cuba to begin exploring the basin.

Numerous foreign energy firms are eager to begin drilling off the coast of Cuba, among them the Spanish firm Repsol, which leads a group of interested oil companies. Repsol has already done some testing drilling of the region, though it did not find enough oil to warrant further drilling, according to its officials.

The failure to tap a productive well fueled speculation by some that potential for an abundance of Cuban oil is just that.

"It's been a big smoke screen for a long time. ... The Soviets used to say there were large deposits off the shores of Cuba, though it hasn't been proven," Mauricio Claver-Carone, a member of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political Action Committee, told United Press International.

For now, only U.S. companies remain on the outside looking in, while other countries, including China, are eagerly anticipating the day when they can begin drilling just 100 miles from U.S. shores.

Proponents of ending the embargo for the sake of oil reserves contend that only American firms will keep U.S. environmental interests in mind when exploring the basin, thereby protecting Florida shores from possible spills.

Havana has even said publicly it would welcome U.S. companies to help develop its small oil industry, which in recent years has produced less and less oil due to its antiquated equipment and a growing dependence on discounted oil from Venezuela.

"We are open to U.S. oil companies interested in exploration, production and services," Juan Fleites, vice president of Havana's state oil company Cubapetroleo, once famously remarked.

But that won't happen anytime soon if South Florida's influential and outspoken lawmakers on Capitol Hill have anything to say about it.

Among them is Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who once remarked that efforts by some of his colleagues on the Hill to end the embargo for the sake of oil were conceding to a dictatorial regime.

"Those are the same kind of people that would sell ovens to Nazis," Diaz-Balart told UPI when the now disgraced former Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho championed an end to the embargo for the sake of U.S. oil interests in 2006.

Others contend an end to the embargo would be a win-win for Washington and Havana, ending years of carried over Cold War animosity and strengthening the Cuban economy, thereby lessening the burden on Florida to absorb thousands of Cuban migrants every year.

What with the end to the Cuba travel restrictions as decreed by the Obama administration, the call for an end to the embargo has grown louder in recent months. The economic advantage of lessening U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has prompted others on the fence to join the call for ending the embargo in favor of oil.

"A rising tide of U.S. public opinion is calling on Washington to lift the outdated and counterproductive embargo on Cuba, a move that would not only benefit the beleaguered Cuban population and be of value to the oil-needy United States, but also improve the tarnished image of the U.S. in Latin America," The Council on Hemispheric Affairs states in a recent analysis.

Whether the tide has shifted enough to overcome the stubborn opposition to ending the embargo, only time will tell.

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