Radio Havana Cuba's Science and Technology Program:
BREAKTHROUGHFor broadcast Sunday, November 28 and Thursday, December 2 1999
Written and narrated by Arnaldo "Arnie" Coro, RHC's Science Editor
Sound: BK theme music, fades slowly to:
Coro: Hello, welcome to RHC's science, technology and the environment update, this is Breakthrough, and I am Arnie Coro your host here, now ready to bring to you an update on Cuba's energy strategy...
This past week, Cuba's Vice President Carlos Lage inaugurated a new oil collecting installation located near Varadero, at the nation's yet more productive oil field. The facilities were built using up-to-date technology, and a lot of care was taken concerning its environmental impact. As Lage himself once commented to the media, the fact that Varadero has the nation's most important tourist resort, and right next to it the most important oil field yet discovered, carries with it a lot of responsibility, as both resources are essential for Cuba's development.
The oil collection system receives oil and gas extracted from wells in the area, so that it can be pre-processed, stored and then sent to its end users, in this case mainly the thermoelectric power and cement manufacturing plants. The gas is sent to ENERGAS power stations that use natural gas to power several generators, too. This same week, at the Matanzas oil storage and handling facility, another pier designed to handle oil tankers of up to 35 thousand tons' displacement was also inaugurated.
The real highlight of these two new oil-related installations is that both were designed and built by Cuban engineers and technicians at a considerable saving to the country. The Matanzas unit will allow much faster transfer operations into smaller oil tankers that are used for distribution of crude oil, fuel oil, kerosene, aviation jet fuel and gasoline to several other ports of the island. The use of low-cost maritime transportation saves a lot of money, compared with transporting liquid fuels using either railway or tanker trucks. The new facility will allow CUPET, the national oil enterprise, to bring to an end the lease of one of the nine oil tankers used for this distribution process, because handling is going to be much faster, and the existence of the third facility will allow more tankers to operate at the same time.
Cuba's strategy with its domestic oil production is to use whatever oil is extracted locally to the highest possible advantage. From oil fields in central Cuba that produce a very high-quality lightweight crude, we are now manufacturing high-quality lubricants, again saving a lot of foreign currency. And the low-grade, high-density oil extracted from Varadero and Jaruco is used for generating electricity at several of the power plants now converted to heavy crude oil.
One further step in optimizing the use of the lower-cost domestic oil was explained by Vice President Lage. In the near future, surplus heavy oil will be mixed with imported light crude, and this mixture will be refined, further saving the nation foreign currency. The national budget of Cuba includes a very high percentage of foreign currency devoted to paying the energy bill, so every single step done to reduce this expense means that more money will be available to help improve other areas of the national economy.
SOUND: BK theme music, fade to...
CORO: And this was Breakthrough for today -- how Cuba is progressing towards more and more energy independence, thanks to a well thought-out and implemented strategy. From Havana I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro -- RHC's science and technology editor, wishing you excellent reception of our next program.
For more information, via Air Mail:
"Breakthrough"
Radio Havana Cuba
PO Box 6240, Havana, CUBA 10600
Via e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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