“It looks like a battlefield.” – The fuel depots in the Cuban power plant explode. Energy crisis. Accident or sabotage?
Cuba struggled for a fourth day on Monday to contain a massive fire at a fuel depot in the northern part of the country. The depot supplies the Communist country's largest power plant – there is still no indication as to whether crude oil supplies to the thermoelectric power plant have been interrupted.
Cuban army helicopters flew over the Matanzas industrial complex on Monday, throwing water on the flames with specialized buckets, although efforts to contain the fire appear to have failed as a third tank caught fire.
"The third tank also exploded after the second fuel leaked, further compromising the situation in the early hours of the morning," the Cuban presidency tweeted on Monday.
Follow the last part of @MINSAPCuba
24 pacientes hospitalizados
– Presidencia Cuba
(@PresidenciaCuba) August 8, 2022
Bloomberg reports that two other tanks caught fire over the weekend. The cause of the fire appears to be a “bolt of lightning” on one of the tanks.
Two storage tanks – one containing 26,000 cubic meters of oil and another containing approximately 50,000 cubic meters of fuel oil – caught fire on Friday evening after lightning struck the complex. Venezuelan, Mexican and Cuban firefighters tried to contain the fire, while officials said they managed to steal at least 520 cubic meters of fuel oil. It was not immediately clarified how much or what type of fuel the third tank contained. -Bloomberg
Cuban state media reported today that at least one person died, 125 injured and dozens missing.
The Matanzas complex, on the northern coast of Cuba, is located approximately 75 km east of Havana. The fuel depot supplies the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest in the Communist nation. It is not known how much fuel was lost.
“It looks like a battlefield. I don't even believe what my eyes see, ”a Matanzas resident told US journalist Mario J. Pentón.
NOTICIAS DE CUBA HOY:
– Noticias de Cuba Hoy
The thermoelectric plant is significant because it supplies one fifth of the country's electricity needs through large quantities of heavy crude oil that are sent from the Matanzas complex to the power generators. This disaster comes as grid failures have multiplied due to fuel shortages, forcing grid operators to impose widespread power blackouts in some areas of the country for up to 12 hours from May.
Cuba, which suffers from economic hardship, recently declared that there are no short-term solutions to the blackouts that sparked the protests. Cuba imports half of its crude, mostly from Venezuela, and if storage facilities like Matanzas are damaged, further power outages and unrest could occur.
Cuba could find itself on a collision course with even greater socio-economic instability if it fails to put its electricity system back in order. What will happen next? A regime change?
And then, one last question … Was the storage facility struck by a "lightning bolt" or was it sabotaged?
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The article “It looks like a battlefield” .- Fuel depots in the Cuban power plant explode. Energy crisis. Accident or sabotage? comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/sembra-un-campo-di-battaglia-esplodono-i-depositi-di-carburante-nella-centrale-elettrica-cubana-crisi-energetica-incidente-o-sabotaggio/ on Tue, 09 Aug 2022 09:00:06 +0000.