Madrid/The Varadero 1012 well, located in the vicinity of mouth of Camarioca, Matanzas, and inaugurated by the Petroleum Union (CUPET) and the Chinese company Gran Wall Last March, it already produces 350,000 tons per day. The data was disseminated by the official journalist José Miguel Solís this Saturday from the information provided by officials of the Petroleum Drilling and Extraction Company of the Center at a meeting of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
In a Facebook publication, the same source ensures that this was possible “as a result of the implementation of incentive measures and of greater availability of tank vehicles.” The production of hydrocarbons in Cuba, he said, grew by 11% compared to the previous year, and the projections for this year “indicate the possibility of continuing the drilling in the so -called heavy crude strip, a region of promising horizons in terms of gas and raw ”.
Dozens of comments immediately filled the Post From Solís, among which is a recurring question: why, if oil production is increased, there are blackouts and fuel shortage in the country? The official communicator hastened to remember that the national crude, with high sulfur content, goes to thermal plants (CTE), such as Guiteras, and cement factories. Both for vehicles and for Pin Turks and the refined oil is used to be imported.
“And where is the thermoelectric oil that is stopped by breakage and maintenance?”
But another user introduces, then, an objection: “And where is the oil of thermoelectric plants that are stopped by breakage and maintenance?” The question is not trivial and specialists like Jorge Piñón, who worked for more than 30 years in the international oil industry and estimates that this surplus can be selling outside the island.
Already last December, in fact, the Australian oil company Melbana Energywhich has a decade with regime permits to explore the deposits of the island, announced that this 2025 would export for the first time Cuban crude.
“More than half of the CTE of Cuba that work with national crude oil are out of service and the rest, operating at an average of 60% of their installed capacity. Where is the production of heavy crude from Cuba that is not being consumed as a result of this situation? Barriles per day (about 5,428 tons), more than one million barrels per month (almost 143,000 tons). Clarifying that it does not have an answer, the Cuban consultant resident in Texas exposes a series of arguments that reinforce the export hypothesis.
One of them, which, despite the decrease in demand for its main client – the Cuban central ones -, the government is aware that “closing a production well is not an option.” The oil waters of the island, explains Piñón, are “mature” fields, which have been producing for more than thirty years. “Close a mature oil well in production entails the risk of significantly reduced production when it is restarted, and potentially will never return to its previous flow,” he says. “Pressure changes in the deposit and accumulation of deposits within the well as a result of prolonged inactivity increase the possibilities of permanent damage and the need for expensive repairs to restart production.”
Singapore, Piñón continues, the best destination where the Cuban crude could lose his entity “
Another argument is that the storage capacity for Cuba crude is limited, especially from the fire of the Matanzas Superanqueros, of August 2022, in which the country lost “a million barrels of storage capacity.” The destroyed deposits are in reconstruction, far from being in operation soon.
Taking this into account, Piñón Aventura that either “some of the Cuban flag’s cabotage tank things.
In this regard, the expert thinks: “The Russian flag oil tanker Akademik Gubkinsupposedly to Cuba and sanctioned by the United States, which transports more than 650,000 barrels of Russian crude oil, it could be a timely candidate for a return trip exporting Cuban heavy crude. ” Singapore, Piñón continues, “it would be the best destination where the Cuban crude could lose its entity.”
This country has, according to the specialist, “an outstanding storage and mixing industry of oil, considered one of the main centers of the world for commerce and oil refining, mainly due to its strategic location in Southeast Asia, its facilities deep water port and their solid infrastructure that allows efficient storage and mixing of various oil products to export them to the Asian market in general, with companies that actively mix different oil sources, including the cheapest Russian oil, to create mixed products for the sale worldwide ”.
