Cuba gasoline production down; fuel oil, diesel up

Cuba gasoline production down; fuel oil, diesel up
Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:28am IST

*Cuban gasoline output down; fuel oil, diesel up in first half 2009
*Diesel output jumps 25.3 pct in January-June period

HAVANA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Cuba increased its output of diesel and fuel
oil in the first half of the year, but gasoline production fell
dramatically, according to refining statistics released this week by the
government.

Fuel oil rose 10.5 percent to 1.4 million tonnes, while diesel jumped
25.3 percent to 646,000 tonnes, the National Statistics Office reported
on its website (here).

Gasoline dropped 36.1 percent to 232,000 tonnes, the statistics office said.

Kerosene, liquid gas and lubricant oils also declined significantly,
while there was no information provided for jet fuel and other products.

There was no official explanation for the mixed performance.

Cuban oil refining nearly doubled to 5.46 million tonnes in 2008 as a
new joint refining venture with Venezuela in Cienfuegos completed its
first year of operations, producing mainly for export.

The 2008 production included 977,000 tonnes of gasoline, just over 1
million tonnes of diesel and 2.7 million tonnes of fuel oil.

Jet fuel production totaled 278,000 tonnes for the year, the government
said.

Cuba does not report oil and derivatives production in barrels.

The communist-led island consumes around 160,000 barrels per day in
petroleum products, more than 50 percent of which comes from regional
energy giant Venezuela.

The rest is pumped from oilfields on Cuba's northwest coast, along with
natural gas for power generation.

Venezuela's state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) reported
delivery of 115,000 bpd of crude and refined products to Cuba in 2008,
of which 93,300 bpd were sold to state-run oil monopoly Cubapetroleo and
27,500 bpd was PDVSA's equity share delivered to the refinery in
Cienfuegos, located 155 miles (250 km) southeast of Havana.

There are two other operating refineries in Cuba. The Nico Lopez in
Havana and Hermanos Diaz in Santiago de Cuba, 540 miles (860 km) east of
the capital.

The two refineries, with a maximum real capacity of around 65,000 bpd
according to various industry sources, have processed 42,000 bpd of
Venezuelan oil mixed with 20 percent Cuban heavy crude in recent years,
almost exclusively for domestic use.

The Santiago de Cuba refinery is being upgraded in a joint project with
Venezuela, which also has said it would invest in construction of a new
refinery in Matanzas, 60 miles (96 km) east of Havana. (Reporting by
Marc Frank; Editing by Jeff Franks and Christian Wiessner)

Cuba gasoline production down; fuel oil, diesel up | Markets | Reuters
(20 August 2009)
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN2051201720090820?sp=true