2024-02-13 12:48:00
How Cubans survive in the midst of power outages.
In a small cafeteria in the town of Bejucal, on the outskirts of Havana, its owner Germán Martín tries to organize his business while threats of blackouts become more and more frequent.
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Although occasional blackouts are a constant reality in Cuba, they have gotten worse lately, Martín says. Sometimes the power goes out for four or six hours, unusual for a time of year when colder weather on the island would mean lower demand and fewer outages.
“The Cuban creates his strategy but it is uncomfortable and annoying,” he said as he hurried to prepare the food before nightfall.
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Government officials blame a lack of fuel to power power plants, a shortage that affects almost every sphere of daily life on the island.
People queue with their cars to refuel after the Cuban government postponed a five-fold increase in gasoline prices scheduled for February 1 (REUTERS/Yander Zamora/File)
On Saturday, the Government decided to stop all sporting events, which include national baseball and soccer league games until further notice, citing a lack of fuel to transport athletes.
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Long lines have formed at fuel stations, many of which have been without gasoline supplies for days.
And the electrical grid suffers from deficits of more than a third of total demand, causing hours-long blackouts in much of the country.
The government maintains that US sanctions, which have lasted for decades, complicate financial transactions and fuel purchases by Cuba and have combined with an increasingly acute economic crisis, bringing the fuel deficit to a critical point.
But a Reuters tally of fuel purchased by the island and delivered to its ports suggests a lack of supplies may be less of a problem than internal infrastructure and logistics.
The Cuban economy requires about 125,000 barrels of fuel per day, including motor gasoline, diesel, and fuel oil for electricity generation, according to data available for 2021 from its National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
A Cuban tanker ship enters Havana Bay with a sign that says in Spanish: “No more blockade”, in reference to the trade embargo on Cuba imposed by the United States (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)
Cuba has steady domestic oil production of about 40,000 bpd that is burned primarily to generate power and continues to receive 57,000 bpd of crude oil and finished fuel from Venezuela, according to data and ship-tracking documents from state-owned company PDVSA.
Mexico, which became another source of oil and fuel for Cuba last year, supplies an estimated 23,000 bpd. Up to 10,000 barrels a day of diesel, cooking gas and gasoline and jet fuel have also arrived in recent months, mostly from Europe following spot market purchases, data has shown.
In total, the country would be receiving about 129,000 bpd, more than enough to cover needs.
Cuban government officials did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Jorge Piñón, who studies Cuba’s energy infrastructure and is an energy policy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, said the discrepancy can be explained by problems with the domestic market, infrastructure, logistics and possibly refining capacity.
“The fuel deficit that Cuba says it has today in our opinion is not the supply, but above all internal logistical problems,” said Piñón.
A fire in 2022 destroyed much of Cuba’s main oil storage terminal in Matanzas, forcing the country to turn to smaller terminals and use floating storage, data showed.
A second fuel tank collapsed in Matanzas | @mjorgec1994
“The blackouts are occurring in February when demand is still low, they suggest fuel production problems: only one refinery is operational, there are power generation problems and logistical issues,” he added.
In response to the crisis, the Cuban government has proposed a five-fold increase in heavily subsidized fuel prices, which it says would curb demand and raise the funds it needs to buy larger volumes.
But price increases planned for February 1 were delayed due to a cyber attack, the Government said.
Since then, the Government has not reported when the price increase will occur.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana and Marianna Párraga in Houston; additional reporting by Alien Fernández, Anett Ríos and Carlos Carrillo. Editing by Nelson Acosta and Aida Peláez-Fernández)
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