The endless lines in Cuba for fuel return; the government says it is because of the increase in demand

The recent affectation in the distribution of fuel in the gas stations of Cuba This is due to an increase in demand and a greater supply to electricity generation equipment, the state-owned fuel trading company (Cupet) reported on Wednesday.

Since last weekend, motorists in Havana and other cities in the country have had to wait for hours at gas stations to be able to fill the tanks of their vehicles.

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“The distribution of diesel and gasoline to service centers in the country has been affected in recent days due, among other reasons, to an increase in demand,” he pointed cupetattached to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, in a statement read on Cuban television.

The company said it will make “enormous efforts” to guarantee the usual supply of fuel, despite the global economic crisis and the increase in oil prices, as well as the tightening of the US embargo and the country’s financial difficulties.

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According cupetsince Sunday it delivers more fuel to the stations than is normally supplied, in addition to increasing the supply to electric generators to reduce damage to an important thermoelectric plant in the country.

In this aerial view, drivers line up to fill their tanks at a gas station in Havana, on March 22, 2022. (YAMIL LAGE / AFP)

The CEO of Cupet, Edrey Rocha, explained that Of the 118 gas stations that Havana has, 97 woke up this Wednesday without fuel and that 59 of them were replenished during the course of the day.

Quoted by the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana, Rocha said that fuel for basic health services, food production, water supply and waste management is guaranteed, and that tank trucks from the Ministry of the Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces support those of Cupet in the supply of service stations.

Recent breakdowns in power plants in Cuba increased the use of generators, which are large consumers of diesel.

On Monday, an official from the province of Matanzas, a neighbor of Havana, announced fuel rationing, but assured that it was a “temporary problem.”

People queue to buy fuel at a gas station in Havana, on March 22, 2022. (YAMIL LAGE / AFP).

In September 2019, a fuel distribution crisis was recorded, when United States sanctions blocked the arrival of Venezuelan tankers that carry oil to Cuba. Many motorists then had to spend several days and even early mornings in front of service stations.

For Jorge Piñón, a Cuban expert in energy policy at the University of Texas, “a series of events culminated in the current situation,” including the drop in national oil production (-20% since 2010).

Venezuela, the supplier of crude oil to Cuba and to whom the island pays by sending doctors, it has been less generous for some years.

According to Piñón, the supply of crude oil and fuels from Venezuela went from 100,000 barrels per day in 2016 “to an average last year (2021) of 56,000 barrels per day.”

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Source: Elcomercio