Cuba reports it received one third less oil from the former U.S.S.R. during the first 10 months of 1991 than in the same 1990 period.
The official government newspaper Granma reports the Soviets promised to deliver 10 million metric tons of crude (200,000 b/d) in 1991--3.3 million tons (66,000 b/d) less than 1990. But Cuba complains it received 540,000 tons less oil than promised through October and was shorted another 280,000 tons in November.
Granma said it was highly unlikely the oil deficit would be reduced in December and conceded that the Cuba economy is in a "critical situation." Transportation, light industry, construction, and agriculture have been especially hard hit.
Conditions will worsen in 1992, Havana officials said.
Further cuts in electrical power use will be ordered, bus service will be reduced still more, and the next sugar harvest likely will be trimmed by the fuel shortage and reduced fertilizer supply.
That will mean lower sugar exports, which will reduce Cuba's ability to buy oil from the former U.S.S.R. or other countries, Granma said. Cuba's crude production, which climbed from 5,500 b/d in 1980 to nearly 19,000 b/d in 1986, has fallen to less than 15,000 b/d in recent years.
Before 1991, Cuba bought crude at discount prices from the U.S.S.R. and resold some of its oil at world prices. That important source of hard currency no longer will be available.
Cuban officials have announced they will encourage joint ventures with foreign firms "of every kind" while maintaining their hard line Communist political system. Havana says it has already found new foreign partners, including oil firms, which will in some degree offset Cuba's loss of business with the U.S.S.R. and eastern Europe.
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