I agree about the Russians lack of skill. Is there enough oil/potential profits to interest U.S. companies?
There is not a lack of technical skill or knowledge on a personnel basis (some of the smartest, most capable folks i know in the oil biz are Russian). Many who were in Russia working for western companies have been relocated to the UK, Norway, Houston, etc. over the past several months. Those that were left behind have effectively disappeared into a blackhole. What Russian companies probably lack is organizational, supply, and infrastructure capability (and probably lower calibre technical personnel). Once upon a time, the USSR drilled what i think is still the deepest (vertical) well ever drilled and a lot of new technology needed to be developed to drill that well. I'm not sure if they used any western companies but I suspect not given its proximity to Archangel.
The answer to your 2nd question is almost certainly not for production companies. Any hydrocarbons are likely to be gas rather than oil. If there is gas, then that might be useful for the Cubans since they're a bit scarce of fuel resources. However, any gas production would be useless for export and Cuba doesnt have much money or political inclination to pay things like royalties. The only interested US companies would be on the drilling and service side and i'm pretty sure that they'd insist on an escrow arrangement.
