Cuba's energy woes in focus at oil partners meet

Venezuela aims to expand its sales of oil to Cuba and other nations on highly preferential terms, putting politics over economics as it meets Friday with neighbors looking for more cheap fuel.

Cuba especially needs the help.

It already benefits from Venezuela’s largesse more than any other member of the Petrocaribe pact that has boosted the South American nation’s regional influence across the region. But higher-than-expected energy use so far this year has prompted Cuban officials to threaten Saturday morning blackouts and forced vacations just as the sweltering summer season begins.

Cuban officials reported that energy consumption overshot projected levels by 3 percent in the first quarter and they are struggling to rein in use.

Air conditioners have been stilled at government offices, and some work hours shortened. Tellers at an Old Havana bank cooled themselves with hand-held fans this week. Clerks at shops along Havana’s waterfront swapped their uniforms for cooler clothes and still sweated as temperatures inside and out hit the mid-80s Fahrenheit (about 30 degrees Celsius).

“The measures have been successful,” Cuban Basic Industries Vice Minister Juan Manuel Presas said this week. He estimated that national energy consumption fell 10 percent in early June – averting the need for Saturday morning blackouts.

Cuba produces about half of its fuel and depends on Venezuela for the rest. That aid has eased once-dramatic power and transport shortages on the island of more than 11 million people – an improvement symbolized by a fleet of new buses from China and Belarus.

Forbes