HAVANA (AFP)--Cuba is negotiating oil exploration and production deals with Russia, China and Angola, with Moscow shaping up as the partner that could make the communist island energy self-sufficient, officials said Wednesday.

The development is unfolding right under the nose of the U.S., home to oil giants that cannot follow suit due to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

"The Cuban oil industry's venturing out into deep sea waters in the Gulf of Mexico very likely will result in an increase in (Cuba's) oil production," Basic Industry Minister Manuel Marrero said as he announced state oil firm Cubapetroleo was negotiating on 23 blocs with the three countries.

Cuba depends on crude from ally Venezuela, but if Venezuelan supplies were cut off for any reason, that could spell deep political and economic trouble for the Americas' only one-party communist state.

Locking in energy independence, aside from potentially turning Cuba from a cash-strapped developing nation into a flush oil exporter, could help project its current regime years into the future.

Russia is considering exploration across 15 of the blocs, which would make Moscow Cuba's top partner in the very costly process.

The remaining eight blocs would go to China National Petroleum Corp., its top oil firm, and Angola's state oil concern Sonangol.

Marrero said U.S. oil companies were welcome to join in, but that Washington first would have to address its sanctions regime.

The exploration newly detailed by Havana would come in addition to other countries already betting on a Cuban black gold rush.

In 2000, Cuba divided its offshore exclusive economic area into 59 blocs, of which 21 have been assigned so far: Repsol YPF SA (REP) has teamed up with Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY.OS) and India's ONGC Videsh Ltd., also known as OVL, on six blocs. OVL, the overseas investment unit of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (500312.BY), is on its own in another two; and state-run companies Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Vietnam Oil & Gas Group and Petronas of Malaysia each have four; while Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR) has staked out one.

Meanwhile, Canadian firms Sherritt International Corp. (S.T) and Peberco, a subsidiary of Pebercan Inc. (PBC.T), in the past eight months have pulled out of their deep-sea operations without any announcements here to explain their moves.

Cuban authorities in October announced that the Caribbean nation's crude reserves were more than double what had been thought and now were estimated to be about 20 billion barrels.

Repsol did the first drilling in 2005 but in a location its found wasn't commercially viable. In July, Repsol in association with the Norwegian and Indian companies, will drill another well.

Then, "at least...another seven drilling operations will take place" through 2012, said Marrero, who acknowledged "the challenge from the technological and financial point of view."

To get its offshore operations in gear it needs a logistical center; that is being built at the port of Mariel, just west of Havana. But it still lacks capacity to process heavy crude.

In 2008, Cuba produced four million tons of petroleum and gas, officially about 47% of what it consumes. The remainder, about 95,000 barrels a day, it imports from Venezuela on favorable credit terms.