Notable delay in the recovery of the Matanzas Supertanker Base

The reconstruction of the fuel tanks in theSupertanqueros Base of Matanzas presents evident delays that can be seen in recent images published by the Fuel Marketer of that province on Facebook.

The regime has just announced that instead of the four planned warehouses, only two will be built, citing security reasons.

However, it is barely rebuilding the first tank, of which only the base and less than half of the structure have been built. "Welding work continues" on this first tank, according to the official press.

"Welding work continues to mark the critical path in the construction of tank 88," especially in "the verticals, the assembly of the fourth roll and the construction of the fire wall," the newspaper noted this week.Giron.

According to14 September, this delay, which has a high economic cost for the country, is confirmed only four months before the deadline established by the authorities for theconstruction of the first warehouse, recalled the independent portal14 September.

Meanwhile, the island continues to suffer from a lack of onshore storage capacity, which forces it to resort to coastal oil tankers as substitutes to receive imported crude oil.

Currently, the NS Concord, which arrived in Matanzas with 684,000 barrels of Russian oil, is in this situation; Well, two years after the fire that destroyed four tanks and caused the death of 17 people, the island still does not have fuel storage capacity.

According to the official press, in the midst of the widespread crisis in Cuba, only two tanks will be built of the original four that the base had, which was destroyed by a raging fire in August 2022.

"In the space of the four destroyed tanks there will now be only two. This will make it possible, for example, to gain distance, explained Bárbaro Siska Viciedo, director of the Petroleum Maintenance Company. Another substantial change will occur in the buckets, which will be prepared to comfortably retain all of the fuel in the event of a spill," the publication states.

This makes it clear that the plan for the Base to recover its original capacity of 200,000 cubic meters within four years will not be fulfilled.

Despite the delays, Cuban authorities assure that weekly checks are being carried out to guarantee the security of the investment – which would be supported by Venezuela – in the Base.

Last year, when it was planned to recover the four tanks, the total cost of building the Supertanker Base, located about 100 kilometers east of Havana and on the edge of Matanzas Bay, was estimated at about91 million dollarsand about 4,000 million pesos.