HAVANA, April 16 (NNN-ACN) — Cuban Pres Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez addressed the shortage of fuel in Cuba during the closing session of a comprehensive supervision visit by the Secretariat of the Communist Party to the central province of Villa Clara.
Diaz-Canel said that the shortage of gasoline in Cuban gas stations took place after the countries which supply the fuel to Cuba have not been able to meet the contracts signed with Cuba because they are facing complex energy situations.
As a consequence, out of a usual daily gasoline use of up to 500 and 600 tons, the country only counts on less than 400-ton coverage daily to meet all its needs.
As to the shortage of diesel, he said that a tanker which arrived in eastern Santiago de Cuba with the cargo underwent a breakdown, which hindered the on-time download of the fuel, so that the ship kept its route to other Cuban harbors; this has caused delay in the distribution of diesel, said the head of state.
The Cuban president said that a significant amount of the available diesel has been used to generate power, given the large number of thermoelectric plants under maintenance to guarantee power availability in the summer, add to this the plants under repair for breakdowns.
Many of the power cuts on the island last week were due to the lack of diesel to fuel distributed or in-situ generation blocks that could have overtaken the work of the thermoelectric plants under maintenance, he said. — NNN-ACN
