Concern Over Future Venezuelan Oil Supplies Drives Cuba's Biodiesel Push

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Cuba's second biodiesel plant is currently undergoing trials at Cabaiguan in the country's central province of Matanzas. The Cuban government is planning to build three more biodiesel units, which will be fed with inedible plants.

Cuba has some 110 hectares of land cultivated with jatropha curca, an oil-rich plant, which will provide the feed for the new plant. The seeds of the shrub, also known as "milk nut," are rich in oil but toxic for human consumption. It also has the advantage that it can be grown in harsh terrain, which does not offer any value to general agriculture.

The jatropha-based biofuel has been used successfully to fuel farm machinery and can replace edible feeds, such as sunflower seeds and soy beans.

Cuba installed its first biodiesel plant in the eastern province of Guantanamo in July, with Swiss backing. The three plants in the planning stage will be installed in Matanzas and are an integral part of the government's drive to source clean energy from wind, solar, sugar cane, woods and biomass. The goal is to generate one sixth of electrical consumption on the island with renewable sourced power through 2020.

Cuba has been meeting about 50% of its national energy requirements from the domestic production of about four million tons of oil and accompanying gas annually. The balance of fuel needs have been imported from Venezuela.

There have been mounting doubts about the ability of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chaves, to take office for his new sixth term (because of his recurring cancer), and this has raised concerns (in Havana) that the fuel supply situation could be adversely affected.

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