AREQUIPA, Peru – Since April of this year, Cuba’s largest oil well, located in Varadero, has been producing some 300 tons of crude oil daily. This is while the energy crisis on the island continues to result in annoying and long blackouts of up to 14 hours.
A report from the official newspaper Granma indicates that the well in question has an ultra-extended reach of 8,047 meters and was drilled in the sector known as Varadero Oeste, belonging to the Petroleum Drilling and Extraction Company of the Center (EPEP-C).
Renier Rodríguez González, the entity’s principal reservoir specialist, indicated that this well could increase its delivery by one hundred more tons and confirms the potential in that development area.
It was designed by a multidisciplinary team of EPEP-C specialists and drilled in conjunction with foreign companies and with the help of cutting-edge technologies. Completed in 546 days, it is considered the greatest technological challenge projected in Cuba in terms of drilling oil and gas wells.
Varadero 1,012 joins four others located in the northern strip, with similar characteristics and productivity and which, together, contribute 28% of the Company’s total crude oil, which for three decades has recorded figures of more than one million tons of crude oil each year.
These holes, which connect the deposit with the surface, are horizontal or directional, of extreme technological complexitywhich begin on land and reach record distances within territorial waters, said Rodríguez González.
According to the official media, the majority of Cuban oil is used to generate electricity, which continues to be dependent on hydrocarbons and their derivatives, although progress is being made towards renewable energies in an attempt to change its energy matrix.
In contrast, the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) justifies the country’s energy crisis with the lack of fuel despite the alleged progress of the well in Varadero and the constant imports of crude oil from countries such as Venezuela, Mexico or loans from Russia.
State-owned company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) has increased its crude oil exports to Cuba by 30% so far in 2024 (compared to the second half of 2023), according to the media Oil & Gas Magazineciting a report filed by PEMEX with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to official information, Gasolinas Bienestar, a subsidiary of PEMEX, exported 21,800 barrels of crude oil per day to Cuba during the first quarter of 2024, in contrast to the 16,800 barrels per day that were sent to the Island between July and December 2023.
Even though the Cuban regime obtains oil through various means, blackouts continue to affect Cubans and the transportation sector is also going through a difficult time.
Throughout last weekend and until this Monday, for example, the blackouts continued uninterrupted due to a severe deficit in generation capacity, according to daily reports of the UNE.
The power outages began on Saturday at 6:01 a.m., reaching a maximum impact of 1,043 MW at 8:40 p.m., during the so-called “peak hour” (when there is the most consumption). On Sunday, the situation did not improve, with a maximum impact of 1,033 MW at 6:30 p.m., which led to the service being interrupted for 24 hours a day.
