The fuel crisis in Cuba will not be solved in April or May

Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Vincent de la LeviThis Monday confirmed that Cuba’s fuel shortage will not be resolved in April or MayThere are also no waiting lists to buy petrol or diesel because “decreasing capacity will continue to decline”.

“From lack of fuel or stable supplies, the right decision was made to release the dwindling capacities, compared to a day’s normal consumption. The diminished capacity is removed and will continue to be removed; That is, it will not reach zero point thanks to this procedure. energy crisis in the country.

In an interview with the official Caribbean ChannelDe la O emphasized that the reasons for this deficiency are “submitted mainly because Our suppliers could not fulfill their obligations with us, based on the economic situation in the worldThe state of world energy.

Without indicating the identity of the suppliers, the minister claimed that they “also had problems with production inputs and had problems fulfilling their obligations with us.”

In this situation, he said, we must add that “although there is a situation of energy throughout the world, The situation in Cuba is always more acute than in the rest of the countries, as is known, due to the state of blockade.“.

“we It is very difficult for us to get boats For transportation of fuel and energy seeking financingCan Fulfillment of some requirements that are considered normal in fuel contractsThis means, in our case, that any failure to move a ship will immediately lead to a hole, ”the Cuban head of energy and mines, as all Cuban officials and politicians usually do, told Al Jazeera.

He insisted that “from the scarcity of fuel and the instability of supplies, The correct decision was made to trigger the decreasing capacities of the fuel distribution, compared to the normal daily consumption of gasoline. And Decreased capacity has been removed and will continue to be removed“.

However, according to De la O, “You will not get to scratchThis will not exist thanks to this action taken.

He pointed out that this strategy of “diminishing capabilities.” It will be held during the remaining days of April and during Mayas well as the warning that it will be removed”Small and very small quantityAnd This is the queuing we see in service centers“, although he noted that “this allowed us not to reach zero fuel consumption from gasoline.”

He also confirmed that this situationIt tends to improve, based on decisions, things that have been negotiated have been completed, and suppliers that have already fulfilled their obligations“.

The minister admitted thatinformation delayAlthough there was partial information in the county, detailed information on the fuel was not there, and one of the reasons was the lack of firm commitments to stabilize the fuel.”

“Today we have an improvementMuch better info than This does not mean that we will have fuel like we had in 2017 or 2018 or like we had a few months ago.This will not be the case. At least in the remaining days of April and the days of MayCEO Miguel Diaz-Canel reiterated.

As de la O’Levy warned, “We will continue to phase out fuel partially and in a reduced manner So as not to touch zero fuel supplies and vital services can be ensured.” He added The same will be with the diesel distribution.

“Diesel will also have news, that there will already be suppliers who are beginning to fulfill their obligations, and This will allow us not to touch zero And that we can Coverage of vital servicesWe call them ambulances, obituary services, the potato crop that has to be transported in diesel-guzzling transports; Goods arriving through the port, if it is food, that transport must be prioritized, and a vital level of passenger transport. This will remain guaranteed and the level of diesel in the service centers of the populationHe finished.

newly, Diaz Canel Admit that management It was not clear how he would get out of the serious energy crisis that was hitting the countryAnd she attributed it, like her Minister of Energy and Mines, to the breach of agreements by countries that had commitments to supply Cuba with gasoline.

“They were also in a complex energy situation and were unable to meet these commitments,” he said last week.

According to the president, this means that out of the 500 to 600 tons of petrol that the country consumes per day, the current coverage is less than 400 tons per day for all activities.

The president stressed that “this has nothing to do with the shortcomings of the country, nor with the problems of our energy enterprises, but with violations that occurred for very objective reasons committed by the countries that supply us with gasoline.”

Regarding the case of diesel, he explained that they have a guaranteed shipment that guarantees them continuity, but the ship that arrived in Santiago de Cuba broke down there and for this reason it was not unloaded at the specified time, to continue later to other Cuban ports. “That led to a delay in the way we were able to distribute this fuel,” he said.

Diaz-Canel also referred to a supposed strategy to avoid power outages in the summer, and emphasized that the country has a high level of thermal power plants for fault repair or maintenance, so that they enter this phase more efficiently.

He said, “We had to rely more on electricity generation through distributed generation, which mainly consumes diesel. Therefore, an important part of the diesel that we got rid of went to electricity generation.”

This is a reason, according to the leader, that sectors such as transportation have less diesel, and he mentioned at the time that there are possibilities to resolve the situation in the coming days. However, predictions made on Monday by the head of the energy portfolio did not appear to prove his prediction correct.