Cuba & Energy: A news chronology

(From stories compiled by FOCAL, the Canadian Foundation for the Americas)

2007

January 4: Cuba fulfilled its plan to produce 3.9 million tons of oil and natural gas in 2006, and it continues exploration activities at 30 wells operated by foreign firms and state-owned Cubapetroleo, officials said. That production is equivalent to 69.6 million barrels of crude and represents a nearly sevenfold increase over the figure for 1990. It is also sufficient to meet half of Cuba's demand for oil and natural gas. In addition, it means savings of $260 million for the communist-ruled island, according to estimates by Vice President Carlos Lage and published in the latest edition of the weekly newspapar Opciones. State television reported that in 2006, specialized brigades worked at 30 oil wells, six of them currently operated by Cubapetroleo, or Cupet. A spokesman for the state oil firm said that it planned to drill 12 new wells in 2007, guaranteeing the country an annual crude production level of 2.2 million tons. (EFE, 4/1/07)

January 12: The Cuban power industry produced the economy´s most outstanding achievement in 2006: the elimination by 90 per cent of damaging and annoying electricity shortages. In less than a year, over 1,000 Megawatts of generating capacity have been installed. The electrogen groups responsible for the increase were distributed in 116 of the 169 municipalities of the island. Investment in the diesel power generators (for 1,311 MW) is practically completed. They will supply all the needed electricity in the hours of highest demand. The annual report of the Ministry of Basic Industry confirmed that 6,301 electrogen groups have arrived in the country. Of that figure, 3,798 generators are already in operation. (Prensa Latina, 12/1/07)

January 24: Venezuela and Cuba took a new step toward expanding their economic alliance, with Caracas joining efforts to find possible petroleum reserves in Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico. With daily deliveries of 98,000 barrels of oil, leftist-led Venezuela is not only the communist-ruled island's top supplier but also its most important trade partner and the pillar on which a good portion of the foreign trade sector rests, with bilateral trade reaching $2.6 billion last year. With the assignment to PDVSA of four of the 59 exploration blocks into which Havana has divided the offshore area, Venezuela entered into competition with six foreign oil companies to find petroleum in the gulf.  Cuba opened its portion of the Gulf of Mexico's waters to foreign oil companies in 1999.  Spain's Repsol YPF, Canada-based Sherrit, India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Norway's Norsk Hydro and Malaysia's Petronas have signed exploration contracts with state-owned Cuba Petroleo, or Cupet. A sixth company, whose name Cuban authorities have not revealed for fear that the United States might retaliate against it under Washington's economic embargo against the island, also signed an exploration deal. (EFE, 25/1/07)

January 25: President Hugo Chávez' Government said Cuba, jointly with Venezuelan state-run oil conglomerate PDVSA, is participating in the quantification of oil reserves in heavy-crude oil Orinoco belt. In a press release, they explained that both countries are taking part in joint projects of prospecting and certification of hydrocarbon reservoirs at the Orinoco oil belt and in Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Under these two agreements, initialed by PDVSA and Cubapetroleo (Cupet), both countries are to conduct prospecting and reserve certification at Boyacá Norte Block of the Orinoco oil belt, as well as in blocks N53, N54, N58 and N59 in Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico. (El Universal, 26/1/07)

February 6: Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp., or PetroVietnam, will expand its overseas oil exploration venture with two contracts this year, one in Cuba and the other in Nigeria, a top PetroVietnam official said. While negotiations on the Nigeria oil exploration contract are still preliminary, PetroVietnam is likely to conclude talks with Cuba by the second quarter, the official said. "We have been there (Cuba) many times, and the government-to-government relationship between Vietnam and Cuba is very good," Le Van Truong, E&P Director for PetroVietnam Investment & Development, said on the sidelines of an exploration and production conference in Singapore. "We have been offered one project (block), so we have to take this opportunity to get five offshore blocks (in Cuba). We hope to get a contract in the second quarter of this year," Truong said. The anticipated exploration contract comes on the heels of a cooperation agreement signed last October with Cubapetroleo, Cuba's state-owned oil company, under which Vietnam consented to Havana's oil terms. (Dow Jones, 6/2/07) 

February 25: Cuba has opened an experimental wind farm, hoping alternative energy sources can one day ease occasional power shortages while reducing the island's dependence on oil, state news media reported. The $3.4 million park, featuring six 180-foot windmills, was established on Isla de la Juventud, an island south of Havana, according to the Communist Party youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde. Exactly when the park was inaugurated was unclear, but officials estimate that during its first year of operation it could produce 1,800 megawatts of electricity. That would save Cuba about $136,000 in oil costs on the international market, the newspaper said. The park was built using French technology, and its windmills are designed to be disassembled quickly in case of hurricanes or tropical storms. Officials hope to finish work on another wind park with six windmills, located in the eastern province of Holguin, by the end of the year. (AP, 25/2/07)  

March 2: Sherritt International, a Canadian energy company, said it plans to export Cuban oil for the first time -- a move that could put the crude on a collision course with the US trade embargo against Cuba. Details are few, but questions about the move go to the heart of the embargo: Where will the oil be refined? And how could Sherritt International or subsequent handlers keep the Cuban crude out of fuel being exported to the United States? Michael Minnes, company spokesman, said plans for exporting the oil are still under discussion. "We respect US law," Minnes said from Sherritt's Toronto headquarters. "We have no intention of selling it into a situation that would affect the embargo." Minnes said demand in Cuba for the oil has dropped because the island is increasingly using diesel generators for electricity production instead of burning crude. Sherritt doesn't currently have offshore wells; instead, its onshore equipment drills horizontally into petroleum reservoirs located under the water. Sherritt International, in a joint venture with the Cuban government, has been drilling for oil in Cuba for more than a decade, gradually increasing production to the point that domestic production provides almost half Cuba's petroleum needs. Venezuelan refined products make up the rest. (The Miami Herald, 2/3/07)

March 5: During the Seventh Cuba-Venezuela Joint Meeting, both countries entered into an agreement for installation of 11 ethanol plants and development of sugar cane crops in Venezuela. Bilateral authorities initialed the pact to install the ethanol plants, organized a joint committee on the use of alternate energy sources and also okayed a number of new projects. Venezuela and Cuba estimated that cooperation in the area of new energy sources will help boost development and collective welfare. The closing ceremony of the meeting was presided over by Raúl Castro, Cuban acting President; Venezuelan Ambassador in Havana Alí Rodríguez Araque; Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Petroleum and state run oil firm Pdvsa CEO, Rafael Ramírez; and other senior Cuban and Venezuelan officials. (El Universal, 5/3/07)

March 8: Cuba increased its infrastructure for an optimum use of accompanying gas extracted from the country's oil fields, Cuban TV reported. Installments from Cuban Company ENERGAS in Havana province's northern strip have new technologies and methods, aimed at raising the delivery of that resource to generate electricity in the Caribbean nation. That entity works for a sustainable increase of production levels and the aim of this year´s plan is to add about 70 megawatts to the installed power plant and successively extend those capacities. (Prensa Latina, 8/3/07)

March 15: With sights set on a lucrative world ethanol market, Cuba has plans to build eight new ethanol distilleries and export roughly 200 million liters of the biofuel by 2011, said Marianela Cordoves, a senior researcher at the Cuban Institute of Investigations into Sugarcane Derivatives, or ICIDCA. "We're thinking of expanding our output of ethanol (...) fivefold to 450 million liters of ethanol in 2011," Cordoves said at the F.O. Licht sugar and ethanol conference in Sao Paulo. "Some of that ethanol will be mixed into our (gasoline). But the rest - perhaps 200 million liters of fuel ethanol - we plan to export."  The country is already in talks with Asia, the European Union and even Canada to potentially supply their markets, she added. The plan could nevertheless hinge on how heavily the Cuban government supports the initiative - and how easily Cuba will find investors to build the new distilleries. Earlier this month, Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro criticized the idea of using food crops for fuels. (Dow Jones, 15/3/07)

March 20: Cuba should begin its controversial drilling for oil in its Gulf of Mexico waters early next year, the country's Basic Industry Minister said. Minister Yadira Garcia said the government and Spanish oil major Repsol-YPF were negotiating with third parties to contract a drilling platform to sink various exploratory wells. "We are working together with Repsol on the platform that in 2008 should arrive to begin drilling during the first half of the year," Garcia said at the opening of a geology conference in Havana. Repsol drilled an exploratory deep-water well in 2004, finding signs of good quality oil but not in commercial quantities. India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Norway's Norsk Hydro partnered with Repsol in 2006 to explore its six blocks. Cuba's 43,250-square-mile (112,000-square-km) exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico was parceled into 59 blocks for foreign exploration in 1999. A total of 20 blocks have been taken by foreign firms to date, which also include Canadian firm Sherritt International, Malaysia's state-run Petroliam Nasional Berhad and Venezuela's state-run PDVSA. "For the next year we plan to sink test wells to prove the existence of oil. Then it will be two or three years to consolidate the find and build the needed structures to exploit the oil, depending on financing," Minister Garcia said. (Reuters, 20/3/07)

March 21: President of Venezuelan oil firm PDVSA Intevep, Hercillo Jose Rivas Siervo, expressed his satisfaction over the results of joint research with Cuba in the field of hydrocarbons. Rivas Siervo and a group of PDVSA Intervep experts are attending the 1st Cuban Congress on Oil and Gas, at the Havana Convention Center. In remarks to the press, Rivas said they have a collaboration agreement with oil firm Cuba Petroleo (CUPET) and Cuba's Oil Research Center for joint studies in the field. We are happy with the results of this cooperation, which will benefit both countries, he stressed. He added that both parties collaborate in technological development in the areas of exploration, production, refining and environmental protection. This year, we did specific research to improve recovery of heavy crude and applied biotechnology in improving oil quality, he said. (Prensa Latina, 21/3/07)

March 25: The Cuban-Canadian Energas project is using the natural gas collected during the extraction of petroleum to generate 15 percent of the electricity consumed by Cuba, to provide energy for cooking to 1 million people and to reduce environmental pollution. Top project officials told reporters about the effort during a tour through Cuba 's northwest exploration and oil production zone after the end of the Geosciences Congress, which was devoted in large measure to revealing the communist island's energy prospects. Energas is a joint venture created in 1998 and operated in equal 33.3 percent shares by Canadian firm Sherrit, which is in charge of the financing and technology, and Cuba 's Union Electrica and Cuba Petroleo, the latter known as CUPET, which handle distribution to consumers and the actual gas production, respectively. The firm processes the gas extracted along with crude oil, removing the sulphur and the heavy fuels known as naphtha, and then it burns the now-clean and non-polluting gas in turbines to produce electricity. Energas has three gas production plants in Cuba 's so-called Northern Heavy Crude Strip, which runs for some 150 kilometers (93 miles) along the coast between Havana and the neighboring province of Matanzas , Energas deputy general manager Alberto Villalonga said. The project includes investment of some $200 million and the three plants generate some 400 megawatts of electricity, with production forecast to reach 525 megawatts by the end of 2008 during its final development phase, the Cuban engineer said. (EFE, 25/3/07)

March 29: Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage confirmed Fidel Castro's position disregarding the possibility of using sugar cane lands for the production of ethanol, when local sugar production is experiencing the consequences of climate change. Local official TV interviewed Lage about sugar production. “It is irrational to believe that in this world where millions starve, and food and water are scarce, ethanol, alcohol, would be produced as energy for transportation”, Lage said. (AP, 30/3/07)

April 22: A modernized oil refinery is set to go on line in December, official media reported, in a shift due to turn imports-dependent Cuba into an oil exporter.  Overhauled with capital from a joint Venezuelan-Cuban company, the Cienfuegos refinery in south-central Cuba will meet the Caribbean country's own demands, and earmark 9,000 barrels of gasoline a day for export, Venezuela's communications and information ministry said in a release circulated in Havana. Vice President Carlos Lage confirmed the facility was set to start operations in December, the Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. Lage said the refinery would process 65,000 barrels per day of petroleum by late this year or early 2008, the paper said. (AFP, 22/4/07) 

May 14: Companies interested in developing Cuba's oil and gas sector appear confident that the industry is set for significant growth. According to officials, total Cuban oil and gas production is expected to rise from its current level of around 85,000 barrels/day (b/d) of oil equivalent to 100,000 b/d by 2009, with investment spending of US$300m-400m. Increased extraction from existing fields will initially account for the expansion, but in the longer term, hopes are pinned on potential finds in Cuba's exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. So far, the bulk of foreign participation in the sector has been Canadian, led by  Sherritt International and Pebercan, but new potential participants from Spain, India, China and Norway are said to be interested. According to Cuba's minister of basic industry, Yadira García, negotiations in progress with companies are likely to result in a sharp rise in the number of new wells being drilled, both on land and in coastal zones as well as in offshore deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Vietnam's state oil company,  PetroVietnam, is due to ink a new oil exploration partnership agreement in the coming months, following a co-operation agreement signed with Cuba's state oil company, Cupet, in October 2006. While Sherritt has indicated that it might be exporting part of its production of crude oil by the end of 2007, new processing capacity is expected to lead to the eventual export of refined hydrocarbons. A Cuban-Venezuelan project for the rehabilitation of Cuba's largest oil refinery in the central port city of Cienfuegos is being readied for operation by the end of 2007 or in early 2008. Initial production from the plant of 65,000 b/d of refined fuel is planned. (Economist Intelligence Unit, 14/5/07)  

May 14: A modernized oil refinery is set to go on line in December 2007, official media reported, in a shift due to turn import-dependent Cuba into an oil exporter. Overhauled with capital from a joint Venezuelan-Cuban company, the Cienfuegos refinery in south-central Cuba will meet the Caribbean country's own demands, and earmark 9,000 barrels of gasoline a day for export, Venezuela's communications and information ministry said in a release circulated in Havana. Vice President Carlos Lage confirmed the facility was set to start operations in December, the “Juventud Rebelde” newspaper reported. Vice President Lage said the refinery would process 65,000 barrels per day of petroleum by late this year or early 2008, the paper said. (Caribbean Net News, 14/5/07)

May 16: The joint-venture oil refinery project at Cienfuegos central province, is not expected to be completed on time as planned for the end of this year due to slow work progress, industry sources said. Cuba, with help from Venezuela, is building an oil refinery in Cienfuegos and refurbishing its existing Havana refinery. The refinery projects could reduce the country's reliance on oil products imports from neighboring Venezuela or boost Cuba's oil exports, but it will not stop its oil imports from Venezuela. Cuba has an operating 120,000 barrels per day refinery at Havana, but the refinery is grossly under-producing due to operational issues, sources said. The Cienfuegos refinery is expected to have an initial output of about 65,000 bpd when completed. "The progress of the refinery projects is not as expected," said a source who is involved in upstream projects in Cuba. "Cuba and PDVSA are hoping to complete the abandoned refinery project left behind by the Russians, but it is a major project because there is a lot of work to be done," he said. Besides the Cienfuegos project, the Cuba state oil company is also working to refurbish and upgrade its underperforming Havana refinery, the source said. The Havana project has a better chance of completion this year than the Cienfuegos refinery, he said. (Reuters, 16/5/07)  

May 16: Cuban scientists who are advocating the exploitation of biomass to satisfy local energy demands gathered in the Cuban province of Matanzas to discuss a project which embraces ten years of experience on the topic. The workshop was attended by researchers and investors from the Ministries of Sugar, Agriculture and of Higher Education, from the Cuban Academy of Science and from other specialized institutions in the field of agriculture and livestock. The project emerges as an alternative to deal with the present challenges posed by the growing energy demands. The scientists propose the use of animal feces, the mass of oleaginous plants rich in oil and gas from agricultural waste as eco-friendly sources of energy to attain some regional independence from the national network. The initiative is supported by specialists from the Swiss Agency of Cooperation for Development, who delivered lectures on their experience in this area. (ACN, 16/5/07)

May 17: Cuba said that a Soviet-era refinery in the port city of Cienfuegos will be rebuilt by the end of November, in a joint venture with Venezuela. The Cienfuegos refinery, on Cuba 's south coast east of Havana, will begin refining 65,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil in January 2008, state television said. "We expect to finish renovating the refinery between the 23 and 30 of November," the refinery's maintenance chief Roberto Lopez said. "We plan to start production on January 1." Cuban television said Cienfuegos refinery will produce gasoline, fuel oil, jet fuel and liquid gas. Experts estimate the refinery renovation, which includes a new catalytic cracker, will cost at least $500 million. Oil industry sources in New York told Reuters the refinery was not expected to come on stream as scheduled by year-end due to slow work progress by the joint venture between the state oil companies CUPET of Cuba and PDVSA of Venezuela. (Reuters, 18/5/07)

May 22: Cuba is engaged in a new program of fuel oil energy generation that will add 1,700 MWe to the current national electricity system, Cuban Basic Industries Minister Yadira Garcia affirmed. The minister highlighted the results of the transformations made to Cuba's electricity system in the last two years, to the 5th International Conference on Renewable Energy, Energy Saving and Energy Education meeting in Havana. The Energy Revolution promotes a conceptual change through decentralization of the national system, use of new energy resources and energy saving, installing 3,000 new generators in key economic points, public health and population services. The program also involves training operators and maintenance personnel to guarantee optimal function and reparation, she said. (Prensa Latina, 22/5/07)

May 22: The Cuban government is willing to contribute to electricity production in Angola, Cuba's ambassador Pedro Ross Leal said. Speaking to the Angolan official news agency, Ross Leal said his country may bring to Angola the experience in energy saving and supply of this good to the population. Commenting on the Cuban experience, the diplomat pointed out the alteration of 52 per cent of the electricity network in that country. He reminded that Angola is in a phase of reconstruction and its government intends to contribute with its experience in various domains of human development, an intention already manifested to the Angolan authorities. Thus, the Cuban authorities are just waiting for the signing of co-operation accords soon. (Angolan Press, 22/5/07)

May 22: Cuba is modernizing its ethanol-producing facilities despite Fidel Castro's repeated assertions that making more of the biofuel could starve the world's poor. The island plans to upgrade 11 of its 17 refineries, which produce up to 47 million gallons annually of ethanol from sugar cane, said Conrado Moreno, a member of Cuba's Academy of Sciences. The refineries currently produce alcohol for use in rum and other spirits, as well as medications and cooking on the island. But the improvements will give Havana the capacity to produce fuel for cars, Moreno told reporters at a conference on renewable energy. Ethanol produced in Cuba is not for cars now, but "in four or five years, we'll see," he said. (The Miami Herald, 23/5/07)

May 23: Cuba's Ecosol Solar division is currently implementing several renewable energy projects in other countries. Ecosol Solar is an entity with  the Corporation of Electronic Technology Exports (COPEXTEL), which belongs to the Cuban Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications. Ecosol Solar experts Raul Novo and Rene Diaz told the press that several health care and education facilities received electricity from solar panels in countries such as Bolivia, Mali, South Africa, Honduras and Lesotho. (ACN, 23/5/07)

May 24: The governments of Cuba and India signed a Protocol of Collaboration on Renewable Energy for 2007-2009. This agreement is the first India signed with a Latin American nation. The agreement was signed in Havana by Vilas Baburao Muttemwar, head of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of India, and Fernando Gonzalez Bermudez, acting minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba. The agreement establishes the collaboration in the fields of wind energy, biomass conversion, small hydroelectric power stations, and thermo solar and photovoltaic energy. The two ministries will promote scientific exchange to share experiences, take part in workshops and seminars in the above mentioned fields, and the training of Cuban scientists. (Juventud Rebelde, 25/5/07)

June 1: The state energy firms of Vietnam and Cuba signed contracts for oil exploration and drilling both in the Gulf of Mexico and on shore. The agreement was signed by the Director General of PetroVietnam, Tran Ngoc Canh, and the director general of Cuba Petroleo, Fidel Rivero, in the presence of Cuba's acting president, Raul Castro, and the secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh, according to an official communique. Both companies signed two shared-risk contracts for the exploration, perforation and exploitation of oil in blocks 31, 32, 42 and 43 of Cuba's economic exclusion zone and in blocks 16, 17 and 18 of the Cuban petroleum area on land. The Vietnamese oil company joins the Spanish-Argentine consortium  Repsol-YPF, which shares risk in six blocks with Norway's Norks Hydro and ONGC of India, the latter also having individual contracts for two blocks, as well as with Canada's Sherrit (4) and the Malaysian firm  Petronas (4) in the exploration of Cuba's deep-water deposits.   Venezuela's state oil company  Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) also has an agreement with Cuban authorities to exploit four blocks and another company, whose name has not been revealed, has contracted another four. Cuban authorities believe that, should the exploration and prospecting in the 59 blocks located in deep waters prove satisfactory, they could be able to begin commercializing crude from 2011 or 2012. (AP, EFE, 1,2/6/07)

June 6: Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro presided over the ceremony at the startup of two electricity generators that will increase the country's generating capacity. At the ceremony, Electric Union, Cuba Petroleo and Canadian Sherritt Utilities Inc., shareholders of the ENERGAS S.A. joint venture, signed an agreement to install a new 125-megawatt steam turbine. With the incorporation of the new units, the installed power generation capacity, using gas, increased to 495 megawatts, 395 MW in ENERGAS and 100 MW in the thermoelectric station east of Havana. Canada's Sherritt said it plans to invest $1.25 billion in Cuba over the next two years, bolstering its position in the island's oil, natural gas, electricity and nickel and cobalt mining sectors. "Cuba is one of our favorite places to work," Sherritt President Ian Delaney said during the event marking the expansion of the Energas natural gas plant, 30 miles east of Havana, which his company manages jointly with state-owned Cuba Petroleo. Delaney did not specify what the new investments will be used for, saying only they will go toward a variety of projects. Sherritt is among the largest foreign investors in Cuba. Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said his power-deficient country will continue building combined cycle generators as more natural gas is discovered. "Investment in power generation and oil production in association with foreign companies is a top priority for our country," Lage said at the opening. Granma also published a full text of the speeches delivered by Lage and Delaney. (The Miami Herald, Granma, Reuters, Prensa Latina, 7/6/07)

June 21: The Isle of Youth, southwest off Cuba, has the highest percentage of different sources of electrical power generation, among them, solar energy in protected areas. Yuliet Carrillo, manager of COPEXTEL Energy Strategic Unit, stated that the ecologic reserve of Cayo Potrero, dedicated to the protection and reproduction of the Cuban crocodile, benefits with a photovoltaic system. That center has artificial lights, which run from solar radiation and do not damage the environment, while prolonging the feeding hours of the Rhombifer, an endemic reptile. The Isle of Youth has experience in solar energy with photovoltaic panels in the fishing industry and other strategic places. (Prensa Latina, 21/6/07)

July 4: A teaching laboratory on alternative energy is being built in Pinar del Rio, the director of investments for the Electronic Components Factory, Jesus Hernandez, stated.  Hernandez told Prensa Latina that the aim is to seek less pollutant energy sources and with larger renovation capacity. "This concern," said the expert, "is a kind of open park, the first of this kind in the island, located outside the factory." According to Hernandez, systems for water pumping, semaphores, rotors, cooking, and air-generators, whose functioning depends on solar energy, are some productions to be exhibited in public after its starting-up in October. The initiative is part of a national policy undertaken by Cuba since 2005 and known as the "Energy Revolution," focused on saving and using renewable energies like solar, water and wind. (Prensa Latina, 4/7/07)

July 9: More than six thousand windmills have already been installed in Cuba as part of the country's efforts to develop the use of renewable sources of energy. Among the beneficiaries of these mills are several hundreds of facilities of the Agriculture Ministry related to cattle-raising. According to Conrado Moreno, director of the Technical University of Renewable Energy, the first windmills arrived in Cuba early in the 20th century and, at first, they were used in the province of Camagüey. Moreno added that Camagüey also witnessed the construction of the first Cuban-made windmills although today they are only made in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Granma. (Ahora, 9/7/07)

July 20: Cuban Basic Industry Minister Yadira García Vera said that the overhaul of an oil refinery built in 1991 “is making fast progress.” According to the official newspaper Granma, the facility will be operated by a joint venture between Cuba and Venezuela beginning next December. The government official announced that "in the coming months all upgrades to distillation and vapor fume-processing equipment as well as boilers should be completed and we should be in a position to refine approximately 65,000 barrels daily." (El Universal, 20/7/07)

July 22: Vice President Carlos Lage said during a visit to an energy facility outside the capital that Cuba was currently producing nearly half of the oil and gas it consumed. Lage, who is also secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, visited the installations of Empresa de Perforacion y Extraccion de Petroleo y Gas de Occidente in the Havana suburb of Santa Cruz del Norte to mark the oil company's reaching 1 million tons of crude production. The company, whose goal is to produce 1.8 million tons of oil this year, is one of the island's largest energy firms, state television and the AIN news agency reported. Lage said new exploratory wells were being drilled and established wells had allowed Cuba to expand its oil reserves, with production in 2008 expected to match this year's level. Cuba "has been acquiring the capacity to service producing wells. Today, the country has 12 machines to drill wells, five machines to repair wells and two for the process of cementation," Lage said. "Up until now, we depended on foreign firms, and we had to contract the machines to drill, repair and cement the wells," the Cuban official said. (EFE, 22/7/07)  

August 1: The Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation (CVP) and Cuban CUPET started the first project for offshore exploration in Cuba. According to a press release from state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), subsidiary CVP and CUPET will start exploration in six blocs of approximately 10,000 square kilometers. "Ascertaining the presence of deposits of light crude oil in volumes able to keep a high production potential is expected," said Pdvsa. The company claimed that the exploration to be made in the Cuban coasts will be "the first experience of Pdvsa in such an environment." (El Universal, 1/8/07)

August 2: The value of Venezuelan oil subsidies to Cuba climbed past $3 billion in 2006 and could swell to $4 billion this year -- almost double current estimates, according to a University of Miami report to be released. Venezuela is propping up Cuba 's troubled economy with shipments of 94,103 barrels of oil a day, experts at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies (ICCAS) calculated, based on official Havana figures issued on July 27. That means Cuba last year got some $3.3 billion in oil products from Venezuela, up from $2.7 billion in 2005. Caracas has declined to explain the payment system, but experts believe Havana gets the energy assistance free of charge. Experts say the high subsidies are reminiscent of Cuba 's dependency on the Soviet Union, which provided an estimated $4-$6 billion a year in subsidies until it collapsed in 1992. Cuba 's economy fell apart, and widespread shortages plagued the nation for years. " Cuba is repeating chapter and verse what it did in the 70s and 80s with Russia," said ICCAS energy expert Jorge Piñón, who prepared the study. 'If Chávez gets hit by a truck crossing the street tomorrow, the [Venezuelan oil officials] (…) are going to say to Cuba: 'Pay for it, and pay market price.' " (The Miami Herald, Bloomberg, 2/8/07)

August 11: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez supports constructing a natural gas pipeline beneath the Caribbean to supply neighboring islands and Cuba, and possibly extending to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Chavez called for the Venezuela-to-Caribbean pipeline in a speech to the PetroCaribe summit, a gathering in Caracas of energy ministers and heads of state from the region. The speech was broadcast on Venezuelan state television. The proposal for what he called a "Great Trans-Caribbean Gas Pipeline" comes just two weeks after Chavez said his plan for a "Great Gas Pipeline of the South" was on hold. That $20 billion pipeline to Argentina through the Amazon rain forest had been "frozen" by opposition in Brazil, he said July 27. At the summit, Chavez also proposed building an oil refinery in Guyana and urged the government of Dominica to accept his offer of a 10,000 barrel-a-day refinery, a project currently awaiting environmental analysis. He said Venezuela's restoration of the Cienfuegos refinery in Cuba will be completed in November. (Bloomberg, 11/8/07)

August 11: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the upgraded and enhanced Cienfuegos refinery, near the city of the same name in Cuba, will begin operations by December 2008. Chavez and Cuban Deputy President Carlos Lage announced the start-up, during the last day of the third heads of state summit of Petrocaribe, the energy cooperation scheme Venezuela is implementing with 13 Central American and Caribbean countries, where the former supplies the latter with crude and refinery products under special financial conditions. "So, Cienfuegos will be in operations by December, right?" Chavez asked Lage during a closed-circuit broadcast of the summit. "Yes, in December," Lage confirmed. The plans for Cienfuegos were first announced in late 2005. Cienfuegos was built during the Cold War by the Soviet Union in order to process Cuban crude, but the facility only saw limited operations before being completely shut down after the fall of Communism in Europe. Now, Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA is restarting it together with Canadian construction firm SNC-Lavalin and, according to PDVSA, and its capacity is being expanded to 110,000 b/d a day from 70,000 b/d. (Platts Commodity News, 12/8/07)  

August 13: Drilling in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico by a consortium of foreign oil companies will begin at the end of 2008, and not at the beginning of the year, as previously announced, according to the official financial weekly “Opciones”. “Repsol-YPF (...) is getting ready for a second drilling at the end of next year,” said “Opciones” quoting Rafael Tenreyro, manager of exploration for the state company Cuba Petróleo (CUPET). (Reuters, 14/8/07)

September 15: President Hugo Chavez expects to visit Cuba in December to set up an oil refinery to be run bilaterally, according to Venezuela's ambassador to Cuba. Ambassador Ali Rodriguez also said that Chavez maintains "very good communication" with convalescing Fidel Castro. The refinery is to operate in Cienfuegos, in central Cuba, and will refine 65,000 barrels of oil per day, rising eventually to 109,000 bpd. (AFP, 16/9/07)

October 4: Cuba today possesses an electric power generating capacity of 3,500 megawatts, which meets national demand, according to Vice President Carlos Lage. In three years, the country has attained an energy production potential of 1,600 megawatts after installing batteries of synchronized generating plants that run on diesel and fuel oil. The national strategy is to produce an additional 1,700 megawatts using generators that run on fuel oil, given the reasonable costs involved, Lage said. From now on, efforts should be focused on attaining more efficiency in production and in the country's electric power system, as well as fuel conservation, along with effective control of resources, Lage stated. Likewise, he emphasized that the new Cuban method is in line with Fidel Castro's instructions, given it is more decentralized and features lower consumption, along with utilizing associated gas from oil production. (ACN, 4/10/07)

October 7: A Colombian delegation of important enterprises and institutions traveled to Cuba aiming to widen bilateral cooperation in energy issues. The Colombian delegation will have contacts with Cuban representatives as part of the mutual cooperation on rational use of energy and use of renewable energy between the Cuban Basic Industry and the Colombian Energy and Mining Ministry of Colombia. The agenda of the visit will be until October 10, includes the study of the Cuban integral experience on saving and efficiency, replacement of devices, equipments and water bombing. Colombian representatives are also interested in the saving of energy in non-residential sectors, installation, operation and maintenance of diesel and fuel oil, and other aspects. The Colombian specialists are equally interested in the experience applied by the Caribbean island in the development of micro hydroelectric plants and their contribution to the economy. Also they will exchange knowledge on the combined cycle technology of gas in Cuba, the experiences of cogeneration in the sugar sector in the island and they will visit the University of Cienfuegos, in the center of the country. The Colombian delegation is comprised of executives of important research centers and energy distributing companies CODENSA, EMGESA, Public Companies of Medellín, Electrificadora of the Huila and Distribuidora of the Pacific. (ACN, 7/10/07)

October 14: Cienfuegos province is going to become a real center of industrial development in Cuba and all of Latin America, affirmed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as he "pre-inaugurated" the Camilo Cienfuegos oil refinery in the city of Cienfuegos. At a ceremony that also included the presence of Political Bureau members Carlos Lage and Yadira García, as well as Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, and Roberto Morales Ojeda, first secretary of the Party in Cienfuegos, and other leaders and guests, Chávez congratulated the workers of the Cuban-Venezuelan joint enterprise PDVSA-CUPET on the efficiency they have achieved during this initial stage. The refinery is expected to begin operating by the end of this year with a processing capacity of 65,000 barrels of crude daily. The Venezuelan president noted that the facility is a concrete example of the fulfillment of agreements signed by various countries as part of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas). Chávez said that with the start of the refinery's operations in December, the cornerstone will have been set for what will be a large petrochemical complex. At that time, he said, construction will begin on a re-gasifying plant using gas from Venezuelan sources. Another line of production mentioned by Chávez as part of this industrial center is the future construction of a fertilizer plant, which would not only supply Cuban agriculture with that product, but also would provide products for export to the Caribbean region. (Granma International, 15/10/07)

October 28: Cuba will produce about 4 million tons of oil and natural gas this year, a top government official said in comments published by state media. It would be a slight increase over 2006. Touring the Nico Lopez refinery on the east side of Havana Bay, Vice President Carlos Lage said Cuba "is in position to meet its plan of almost 4 million tons of oil and natural gas this year." The Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde quoted Lage as saying that modernization of the Nico Lopez facility has helped save nearly 1 million liters (26,000 gallons) of gasoline in just two months. The paper reported that upgrading the refinery took nine months and cost more than US$4.3 million (€3 million). Cuba has been producing 85,000 barrels of petroleum and 120 million cubic feet (3.4 million cubic meters) of natural gas a day, a dramatic increase from a decade ago but still not enough to meet its needs. Lage said Cuba is forced to purchase some oil on the open market, and is feeling the worldwide pinch of spiking prices. "Even though we maintain the contract with Venezuela which gives us favorable commercial conditions, the country has to buy a certain amount of fuel on the international market," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "That's why saving energy is a prime responsibility at the moment." (AP, 28/10/07)

October 31: The enlargement and modernization works at the Camilo Cienfuegos oil refinery go as planned, so that it can start up operations in December, an executive of the Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture said. Julio Sanchez, coordinator of the Rehabilitation Project of the refinery, told reporters that the installation of an aluminium geodesic dome in one of the plant's five oil storage tanks would be completed soon. The Camilo Cienfuegos refinery will process 65,000 barrels a day during the first stage, and 108,000 barrels during the second stage. (Prensa Latina, 31/10/07)

December 6: Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Eumelio Caballero invited Russian companies to take part in prospecting for crude oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. Caballero said that Cuba already had signed contracts with companies from Spain, Norway, Venezuela and China who will participate in the exploration and exploitation of petroleum deposits in the Cuban economic zone in the Gulf. "We are in contact with the Russian companies and we hope that they participate in the prospecting for those deposits, in particular creating the necessary infrastructure," said the diplomat, who is on a two-week visit to Russia. He added that "Cuba is open to cooperation," and he said that the "favorable" political conditions on the island augur for "magnificent prospects" for the Russian firms that participate in the project. (Oil & Gas, 6/12/07)

December 6: Cuba reiterated a warning about the dangers and conflicts that the unbalanced and excessive production of biofuels would generate for humanity. On this occasion, the warning was launched by Ramon Pich Madruga, deputy director of the Cuban Research Center on the World Economy (CIEM) during a conference of the UN Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During the meeting, several topics were discussed including those that will be taken to a UNCTAD meeting that will take place in Accra, the capital of Ghana. (ACN, 6/12/07)

December 12: The mothballed Cienfuegos refinery in Cuba will be restarted on December 21 following a major upgrade, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in attendance, an official with Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA told the press. Cienfuegos was originally built with Soviet assistance, but mothballed shortly after the demise of the USSR more than a decade ago. In 2005, PDVSA and its Cuban counterpart, Cupet, launched a joint venture to retool the refinery. PDVSA will also supply the crude for refining. PDVSA President and Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in November that the upgrade cost $83 million, with the refinery's throughput capacity being expanded to 110,000 b/d from the original 70,000 b/d. (Platts Commodity News, 12/12/07)  

December 12: Cuba will make a presentation on its “Energy Revolution” during the UN-organized conference on climate change taking place in Indonesia. Cuban Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Jose Antonio Diaz Duque is heading the island's delegation to the meeting. In statements published by Juventud Rebelde newspaper, Diaz Duque said the UN has recognized Cuba’s energy-saving program. He explained the country expects to contribute with the reduction of gas emissions that cause the greenhouse effect, even though the island's limited releases have a very low impact on the world. (ACN, 13/12/07)

December 17: A refurbished Soviet-era oil refinery passed a series of hydraulic tests and will be activated on December 21 in time for a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose government helped bankroll the improvements, Cuban state media reported. The Camilo Cienfuegos refinery will initially process 65,000 barrels of crude oil a day, but its capacity is expected to steadily increase, according to the island's official news agency. Its operation should push Cuba 's daily production over 100,000 barrels per day. Improvements at the refinery, a Cuban-Venezuelan joint project first announced in April 2006, have so far cost more than $136 million. The refinery has largely stood idle since the Soviet Union collapsed, ending billions of dollars in annual subsidies it once provided Cuba. When fully operational, the refinery will employ 1,200 workers. (AP, 17/12/07) 

December 18: Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro will head the Cuban delegation that will participate in the Fourth Petrocaribe Summit that will take place in the central Cuban city of Cienfuegos. During a press conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandro Gonzalez announced that 12 heads of state and government out of the 16 countries that make up the regional energy cooperation body have already confirmed their presence on the island for this event. Some of the leaders who have confirmed their attendance are the presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez; Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega; Haiti, Rene Preval; and the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez. Also confirmed are the prime ministers of Jamaica, Bruce Golding; Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer; and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves. Gonzalez explained that, on this occasion, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago will again participate as guests while Guatemala and Honduras will do it for the first time in the same condition. (ACN, 19/12/07)

December 19: The Cuban government announced that it will eliminate almost completely the annoying blackouts, thanks to the so-called "energy revolution" which the country started in 2005. "In the future there will be no more blackouts in Cuba," read a headline in the daily Juventud Rebelde which reported on the intervention by the minister of the Basic Industry, Yadira García, in the Roundtable TV program. (ACN, 20/12/07)

December 20: Cuba is to open an abandoned oil refinery and a project to expand a nickel plant will go live by the end of the year, as the island resumes industrial development after the years of crisis that followed the Soviet Union’s demise. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will be in the southern port city of Cienfuegos to inaugurate the originally Soviet-era refinery, a 50/50 venture between the two states’ oil companies that will process 65,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan crude for the Cuban market and 14 other Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. In eastern Holguin province, where Cuba’s vast nickel and cobalt reserves are located, the first phase of a $500m (€348m, £252m) expansion of the Moa nickel plant, a joint venture with Canada’s Sherritt International, will add 4,000 tonnes to output in 2008 and up to 14,000 tonnes when completed. Cuba’s three existing nickel processing plants have operated at their 70,000-75,000 tonne capacity for many years. A fourth plant in the area, which was left unfinished with the end of European communism, will be completed by 2010 in yet another Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture. (Financial Times, 20/12/07)

December 21: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez proposed extending a barter scheme used by Cuba to other Caribbean and Central American nations to help them pay for oil supplies with products and services. At a summit of his growing regional energy alliance, Petrocaribe, the leftist firebrand attacked the United States and other rich consumer nations for squandering their unfair share of world resources. "In spite of the Yankees, our oil and gas will always be at the service, first of Venezuela, and at the same time of our brother nations of Latin American and the Caribbean," he said. "We have begun to create a new geopolitics of oil that is not at the service of the interests of imperialism and big capitalists," Chavez said in a speech. Petrocaribe allows members to defer payment on 40 percent of their Venezuelan oil bill for up to 25 years, with interest of only one percent. Critics say the deal supplies oil at market prices and is increasing the indebtedness of small Caribbean states. Acting Cuban President Raul Castro co-hosted the summit in the southern city of Cienfuegos. He also spoke to the regional leaders. ''At a time when the oil prices have broken every record, creating an extremely complex situation to most of the oil importing third world nations, the member countries of Petrocaribe are in a privileged position,'' he said. [Key Address by Raul Castro at Petrocaribe Summit; Intervención de Hugo Chávez en la Cumbre de Petrocaribe] (Reuters, 21/12/07)

December 21: The final declaration of the Fourth Petrocaribe Summit described the regional energy project as a model of cooperation among developing countries, guided by solidarity and special treatment towards nations with fewer energy resources. The heads of state and government’s attending the summit approved the document during the final working session at the Jagua hotel in the south-central Cuban city of Cienfuegos. [Petrocaribe Final Declaration] (ACN, 21/12/07)

December 21: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez oversaw the reopening of an oil refinery renovated with his country's help. The Camilo Cienfuegos refinery was renovated in 18 months after standing idle more than a decade following the Soviet Union's collapse. ''We truly believe in solidarity, cooperation and the joint capacity to develop our countries for our people,'' Cuba's provisional president Raul Castro said, joining Chavez at the event at the end of the Petrocaribe summit. Billboards featuring Chavez and ailing Fidel Castro greeted the Venezuelan president in Cienfuegos, a port city 160 miles southwest of Havana. Castro has not appeared in public since falling ill in mid-2006. Raul Castro, running Cuba since his brother underwent stomach surgery 16 months ago, said the US trade embargo had prevented Cuba from operating the Cienfuegos refinery since 1995. "It has not been easy to keep our socialist revolution going with a fierce enemy 90 miles away, but we are here to stay," he said. [Raul Castro’s closing speech at the Petrocaribe Summit; Discurso de Hugo Chávez en la clausura de Petrocaribe, refinería de Cienfuegos] (AP, Reuters, 21/12/07)

December 26: Cuban oil and gas output rose only slightly to the equivalent of 4 million tonnes this year despite a significant increase in investment. Oil output was 2.9 million tonnes, or around 57,000 bpd, assuming 7 barrels per tonne, down slightly from the 2.98 million tonnes reported in 2006. Natural gas production was reported at 1.215 billion cubic meters, up from the 920 million cubic meters reported in 2006. Vice President Carlos Lage, during a Christmas Day tour of oil facilities, praised efforts to maintain output despite the natural depletion of existing wells, and in particular the use of natural gas to generate 15 percent of the country's electricity. Lage said Cuba produced 47 percent of its fuel needs. Cuba bought and rented 10 Chinese drilling rigs in recent years, Lage said, and drilled 32 wells in 2007 -- mostly in partnership with Canadian company Sherritt International -- compared with 23 wells in 2006. Lage said a record number of seismic studies were carried out on land, just off the coast, and in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters where various foreign companies have taken out blocks. (Reuters, 26/12/07)