SLP, Mexico.- In the midst of one of the worst fuel crises in Cuba, the regime authorized the Australian company Melbana Energy to export the crude oil it extracts on the Island, as confirmed to Martí News the specialist Jorge Piñón.
The oil Starting in 2025, Australia will export the product obtained from the so-called Block 9which covers 2,344 square kilometers on the northern coast of Cuba, 140 km east of Havana, in a hydrocarbon system, near another multi-billion barrel oil field: Varadero.
According to the certifier independent reserves and resources firm, McDaniel & Associates, Block 9 had an estimated up to 734 million barrels of oil.
Jorge Piñón, director of the Energy Program for Latin America and the Caribbean at the University of Texas, explained that it is not yet clear what the gains will be for the Havana regime as part of the agreement.
“The State always keeps a share of the production and the rest goes to the operator. In this case, everything we have seen indicates that Melbana has 100% of the production of Block 9,” he said.
“That is the first thing that seems strange, the second is that Cuba allows crude oil to be exported. “Sheriff had to sell it completely to Cupet,” he added.
Until now, and according to a report of the company published in September, Melbana had already discovered 267 million barrels.
The same report stated that the authorizations to export crude oil to international oil markets had already come into force.
Melbana Energy was awarded a 100% interest in Block 9 in 2015 and, in May 2020, agreed to transfer a 70% interest to Sonangol (the Angolan National Oil Company) in exchange for it financing 85% of two exploration wells.
Although the oil extracted in Cuba has a high sulfur content, the Australian company has detected lighter and deeper unexploited oil in one of the wells (Alameda).
Years ago, the oil company said it estimated that it would cost at least $10 million to drill two wells in Cuba.
While the regime allows the export of crude oil found on Cuban coasts, electricity generation in the country is plummeting due to lack of fuel.
Only this Tuesday the highest impact rate recorded so far this year is repeated, discounting the two general blackouts that affected the Island in October.
The UNE indicated that the interruptions of the electrical service are due to the lack of fuel and breakdowns in the units of the operational terrestrial thermoelectric plants.
The state company specified that unit 5 of the Mariel Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), unit 5 of the CTE Nuevitas, unit 2 of the CTE Felton and unit 6 of the CTE Renté are out of service due to breakdowns. On the other hand, unit 2 of the CTE Santa Cruz, units 3 and 4 of the CTE Cienfuegos, unit 6 of the CTE Nuevitas and unit 5 of the CTE Renté are under maintenance.
Likewise, 58 distributed generation plants and the Santiago de Cuba lake are out of service due to lack of fuel.
