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LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
The fire is visible in satellite photos, and shipping data show fuel supply tankers diverting from Matanzas
Fire could plunge Cuba into an energy crisis
Following a blaze that has destroyed at least 40% of the Matanzas Supertanker Base, Cuba stands to run low on power plant fuel. The consequences could lead the US to reconsider sanctions policy
WHAT:
The Matanzas Super- tanker Base caught fire and burned for five days following a lightning strike on August 5.
WHY:
The complex handles about 40% of the island’s oil and fuel imports.
WHAT NEXT:
Damage to the facility
is likely to exacerbate Cuba’s economic woes and energy shortages, sparking a crisis that could lead to a rethinking of US sanctions policy.
CUBA may be heading for an energy crisis fol- lowing a devastating fire that has destroyed at least 40% of the Matanzas Supertanker Base, which serves as the country’s largest crude oil and petroleum product import terminal and storage depot.
The blaze broke out on the evening of August 5, when a bolt of lightning hit a section of the complex that houses four storage tanks. Accord- ing to press reports, the lightning strike set one of the four tanks on fire on Friday night, and the flames spread to a second tank on Saturday and a third tank on Monday.
Cuba’s government responded by sending hundreds of firefighters to the site, while the governments of Mexico and Venezuela provided assistance in the form of special equipment and emergency personnel.
Mario Sabines, the governor of Cuba’s west- ern Matanzas province, indicated on August 8 that firefighters had been having great difficulty
preventing the fire from spreading to other parts of the tank farm. “The risk we had announced happened, and the blaze of the second tank com- promisedthethirdone,”hewasquotedassaying by the Associated Press.
CNN, meanwhile, quoted him separately as saying that the fire had spread from tank to tank like flames from an “Olympic torch,” turning the entire area into a “cauldron.”
The fire raged for nearly five days and was finally reported to be out on the afternoon of August 9. In remarks broadcast on state tele- vision on that day, Rolando Vecino, the Cuban Interior Ministry’s head of transport, said there were signs that the severity of the blaze had diminished. First responders have “managed to control the fire,” he declared.
Ed Augustin, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, agreed, noting in a news broadcast from the port of Matanzas on August 9 that the colour of the flames had changed from black to light grey.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 10•August•2022