In 2008, the Island extracted 68,493 barrels per day, 44% more than last year.
By14ymedio
HAVANA TIMES – Transparency when it comes to providing accurate and clear data on crude oil production remains one of the pending issues of the Cuban government. According to Osvaldo Lopez, head of Exploration of the Cuba Petroleum Union (Cupet), the Island produced 40,000 barrels a day in 2024 – 98% of its extraction plan – but the US “blockade” allegedly prevents it from attracting foreign investment to search for new deposits.
For the expert Jorge Piñon, who worked more than 30 years in the international oil industry and analyzes the regime’s oil business step by step, the data offered by López to the State newspaper Granma on January 7 are misleading, especially in terms of the alleged effects of the embargo.
To improve its total figure, Cupet reports the production of “oil equivalent,” a technical term that includes the mixing of light hydrocarbons derived from the production of natural gas.
“Both light hydrocarbons and condensates – butane, propane, natural gasoline and naphtha that are extracted in Energas’ natural gas processing plants – are mixed with the production of extra-heavy crude oil to improve its viscosity and allow its transport via pipelines or maritime and land transport,” explains Piñon.
The data that Cupet would have to provide is that of the crude oil production at the top of the oil well. According to Piñon’s estimates, the real amount is 38,000 barrels of extra-heavy crude oil per day and not, as the Government claims, 40,000.
Cuba reached its production record in 2008, when it extracted 68,493 barrels per day, according to official figures. This implies a drop of 44% in the last 16 years, says the expert. This decline cannot be attributed to the “lack of material resources and financing,” as Cupet alleges, but to the “natural decline of the oil wells in the northern strip of Cuba.” In this, too, the Government turns its back on reality.
In his interview, Lopez also admitted that the amount of crude oil reported covers only a third of the country’s consumption. This data does coincide with the demand for 120,858 barrels per day of crude oil and liquid petroleum-derived fuels that Cuba reported in 2022, explains Piñon. Last year, due to blackouts and lack of foreign exchange to buy fuel, he notes that it is likely that the demand was much lower.
The extreme viscosity of Cuban crude oil requires a complex process of improvement to make it useful for consumption. Since 2011, Cupet has tried to get the Russian state-owned Zarubezhneft and the Federal University of Kazan to implement effective processes to improve the crude oil extracted in Boca de Jaruco, Mayabeque. In thirteen years, the project has not shown the slightest impact on national production, says Piñón.
Lopez also said that it is “vital to discover crude oil with better quality and to find deposits off the coast.” If this is not done, it is because of the “blockade”* of the United States, he added, and because Cuba has to “fall in love” with foreign companies to invest in Cuba.
However, counters Piñon, the “embargo” did not prevent Cuba from drilling five wells in deep waters of the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in 2012. Large companies such as Repsol (Spain), Statoil (Norway), Petronas (Malasia) and ONGC (India) were involved in the project, “with one of the most advanced platforms in the world -Scarabeo 9 – owned by the Italian ENI.”
It was a total failure. Despite the efforts, no profitable well was discovered, and those results continue to frighten investors, explains Piñon. In addition, the countries of the region compete with Cuba when it comes to “falling in love” with large companies. Compared to Guyana, Brazil or the US area of the Gulf, the Island is not an attraction.
Granma’s interview with the official also omits important data. Nothing is said about the operations of the Australian Melbana, which received permission from the Cuban government to export the oil it found in the so-called Block 9 of Matanzas.
Shipments from Russia also play an essential role in Cuba’s energy future. The Kremlin enters 2025 with a tightening of Washington’s sanctions to limit its oil business, and Havana, Piñon thinks, could receive an unexpected benefit from the situation.
This week, the United States sanctioned the 180 tankers that make up the so-called “ghost fleet” of Russian oil, in addition to two companies, dozens of traders and senior officials. With its constant change of flags and records, and despite the risk of financial sanctions against shipowners or even the interception of their ships in the Caribbean, Cuba will be one of the possible destinations for that oil in search of customers at prices well below the international market.
*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the long-standing US embargo.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.
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