The Cuban Oil Union (CUPET) announced this Tuesday the refining of 100% domestic crude oil at the Hermanos Díaz refinery in Santiago de Cuba, presenting it as a step forward in "energy sovereignty" amid the worst fuel crisis the island has faced in decades.
According to CUPET officials interviewed by Canal Caribe, the initiative arose from urgency: Cuba does not have imported crude oil to produce the solvent naphtha needed to inject into the wells of the Varadero field, which provides about 70% of national production, and to maintain the flow of oil to the thermoelectric plants.
The technical problem that prompted the project
A CUPET executive explained it straightforwardly: "The source to generate the viscosity-reducing absorbent gasoline that is currently needed for injection into the wells in the Varadero deposits must be produced by us, and we do not have imported crude oil. That is why CUPET has taken on the task of starting an analysis across all its facilities to examine how to process Cuban crude from a technological perspective."
Cuban crude is predominantly heavy and very viscous, with a recovery coefficient of only between 5% and 7% of the oil contained in the subsurface.
What was obtained at the Hermanos Díaz refinery?
The second test run processed approximately 20,000 tons of Cuban crude oil.
The obtained products include solvent (naphtha), a cut of kerosene known as kero 10, and a cut of fuel oil with atmospheric residue.
The solvent will be directly allocated to oil production.
"From the refining of this crude oil, a component essentially comes out that is a solvent, which we will use in oil production, ensuring that we can consistently produce oil to supply the thermal power plants for thermal generation," explained an executive.
Fuel oil is being evaluated in the nickel industry and in thermoelectric plants in the province of Santiago de Cuba.
“Although it is still a preliminary phase, the results are quite encouraging,” acknowledged one of the specialists.
For this project, CUPET uses crude oil from western Cuba, which has a lower viscosity: "It allows us to transfer it without having to inject specifically the viscosity-reducing absorbent naphtha."
It's not the first one, but it is the most urgent
"Since 2010, there have been experiences in Cuba regarding the refining of Cuban crude oil conducted at the Cabaiguán refinery in the central part of the country. We went to Santiago because it is a refinery with greater capacity," said a CUPET executive.
The Sergio Soto refinery in Cabaiguán expanded its capacity from 400 to 600 tons daily in 2026, with projections to reach 1,000.
At the same time, CUPET is working on a "thermoconversion" process that would eliminate the use of viscosity-reducing naphthas, although it is still in the pilot phase at the Hermanos Díaz refinery.
The context: An unprecedented recent crisis
The announcement comes at a time of energy collapse that the regime itself has had to publicly acknowledge.
Venezuela interrupted its oil shipments since November 2025; Russia made its last shipment in October 2025; and Mexico suspended its supplies in January 2026.
Between December 2025 and the end of April 2026, Cuba only received one fuel ship, while the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged that the country needs eight per month.
On April 16, Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted that Cuba "is absolutely lacking fuel for nearly everything," and on May 13 he described the situation of the National Electroenergetic System as "particularly tense", noting that Cuba stopped generating 1,100 MW due to a lack of fuel.
Cuba produces internally between 30,500 and 40,000 barrels of oil daily, but consumes between 90,000 and 110,000, creating a gap that historically relied on imports, which have now nearly vanished. No domestic crude refining, no matter how promising it may be in the pilot phase, can bridge this gap in the short term.
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