Cuba’s state-owned oil company, Unión Cuba Petróleo (CUPET), announced Wednesday a shortfall in fuel availability throughout the country.
According to the company in a statement, a demand «higher than usual» and «operational difficulties» in logistics on the island have led to a lower fuel production than necessary.
In this sense, CUPET has explained that it will carry out «the necessary tasks» to stabilize the supply of gas stations in Cuba, detailing that it has «the support of specialized equipment» to transport the fuel by road from the Cienfuegos Refinery «to the whole country».
Cuba has been suffering for months from an energy crisis that has caused daily power outages for months throughout the island, which in turn has increased social discontent and the number of protests over supply cuts, aggravated by the passage of Hurricane ‘Ian’ and by the fire last August in the fuel depots at the supertanker port of Matanzas.
In fact, the Cuban government dismissed last October 17 the then Minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba, Liván Arronte, in the midst of the energy crisis suffered by the island due to its dependence on fossil fuels, the U.S. trade blockade and the economic crisis affecting the country.
