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Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) reported on Tuesday that the welding and painting work is progressing well on one of the tanks at the supertanker base in Matanzas, with completion scheduled for May 2026. This will allow for an increase in the storage capacity of crude oil intended for electricity generation.
The recovery of this deposit is part of a broader plan that includes the construction of four new tanks in the industrial area of Matanzas, along with another 14 construction items that include roadways, perimeter fences, and interconnections, all with enhanced levels of security.
The four tanks under construction —identified as 49-1, 86, 87, and 88— have a capacity for hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of storage, and their construction is progressing thanks to the collaboration between Cuba and China, with Chinese specialists participating at the request of the Cuban authorities.
The project aims to recover the storage capacity lost after the devastating fire on August 5, 2022, considered the worst industrial disaster in the history of Cuba, which destroyed four of the eight tanks of the facility and resulted in a loss of 200,000 cubic meters of storage capacity.
That disaster, caused by a lightning strike that hit one of the tanks during a storm, resulted in at least 16 fatalities, 132 injured, and forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 people from the surrounding areas.
The reconstruction incorporates advanced safety measures that did not exist before the incident: greater distance between structures, modern lightning protection systems, geodesic domes, floating membranes, and retention basins to contain potential incidents.
In September 2025, Chinese workers completed the assembly of the dome of tank 49-1, the first of four new tanks, while tank 88 —managed by Cuban brigades— reached 60% progress in July 2025.
The stored crude at the base primarily supplies the country's thermoelectric plants, making its recovery strategic during a period of acute energy crisis.
That crisis has intensified since January 29, 2026, when the United States tightened sanctions against shipping companies, oil producers, and third countries to prevent fuel supplies to Cuba, which has reduced the distribution of refined oil to just 800 tons per day, half of the usual consumption.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, described the impact of the energy embargo on national life and the functioning of the electrical system as "brutal" during a television appearance on April 22.
Three years after the fire at the supertanker base, the reconstruction is progressing with Chinese support in a context where Cuba distributes half of the fuel it requires, and the completion of the first tank in May would represent a significant first step towards recovering an energy capacity that the country lost almost four years ago.
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