This is a little off topic but maybe some of you can answer this question: If Cuba can drill 45 miles off shore of us for oil, what is to stop an independent American company from doing the same thing? If it is outside our limits I don't see how the US could stop them. Couldn't they drill and then sell it to companies in the US as an independent entity? Yes, no?
That's a good question, wish I knew the answer.
"If it is outside our limits I don't see how the US could stop them. Couldn't they drill and then sell it to companies in the US as an independent entity? Yes, no?"
The problem I see is that the U.S. claims economic soverignty within (I believe) 200 miles of the coast. Two hundred miles out to sea is quite a distance.
Cuba is an exception since Cuba itself is within about 90 miles of the U.S. coast of Florida. The line for sovereignty purposes is roughly 1/2 the distance. Hence, Cuba's ability to sell the rights to drill up to 45 miles from our coast.
So to answer your question, drilling more than 200 miles from the U.S. coast is probably legally feasible, but I doubt it's economically feasible.
There is a significant amount of readily accessible oil out there in places like ANWR and southern Italy where you don't really have to go offshore at all, but where the oil can't be drilled due to politics.