AREQUIPA, Peru – The state-owned company Unión Cuba Petroleum (CUPET), responsible for gas supply at the national level, reported in Ciego de Ávila the extension of the purchase cycle of the so-called “balitas” of liquefied gas to two months.
A report from the official media Invader attributes the decision to the deficit in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) inventories on the Island and its intermittent supply since the end of 2024.
While describing the measure as “transitory,” the Cuban regime points out that the outlook is “not very encouraging.” Added to the lengthening of the “balitas” purchase cycle is the inactivity of electronic purchasing platforms. Ticket and the Virtual Storefor “different reasons,” adds the state newspaper.
Danilo Tejera Sánchez, head of the Liquefied Gas Team in the Base Business Unit Territorial Division of Fuel Marketing (UEB DTCC) in Ciego de Ávila, declared that the measure of establishing a minimum of 60 days for the acquisition of the product responds to timely guidelines and necessary from the national management of the organization to favor people who have not purchased for the longest time.
It was decided, he said, to adopt this variant punctually, to help in the current circumstances, which does not mean that it is a definitive solution, however, it will be maintained for the next few months in the face of the low availability of gas in the country and the low allocation of cylinders to the territory.
According to the manager, restoring sales for the previous 26-day cycle will depend on the “nation recovering and the number of bullets increasing,” a scenario that contrasts with the worsening energy crisis that the Island has faced, especially in the last years.
Given the doubts of the population about the need to deliver the empty “balitas” in advance of the purchase at the points, the official justified that one of the impediments that exists today to satisfy the wide demand of liquefied gas is the small number of cylinders that are circulating, as they deteriorate over time and handling.
In this regard, Tejera Sánchez said that the strategy has been drawn up to ask the population to hand over the void, in order to “be able to speed up the filling cycle. For this reason, deposits are collected from the first 200 numbers in the queue, two days before the sale date.”
According to official figures, there are currently more than 13,000 customers in Ciego de Ávila who cannot access the liquefied gas service. This is under the regime’s excuse that the product arrives in a very small quantity to the territory, given the country’s low availability to supply it to all provinces.
