[NYTr] Vice President Lage Praises Petroleum Production in Cuba

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles

Vice President Lage Praises Petroleum Production in Cuba

Havana, July 23 (acn) Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said on Saturday 
that Cuba already produces half of the petroleum and accompanying gas 
that the island consumes.

The announcement was made by Lage during a visit to several facilities 
of the Company of Petroleum Drilling and Extraction of the West in the 
municipality of Santa Cruz del Norte, northeast of Havana, which on 
Saturday arrived to the million tons produced this year, needing almost 
three weeks less than in 2006.

Lage said that this entity and also that of Matanzas are two of the 
most efficient ones on the island as they have both fulfilled their 
plans and even surpassed it in the production of gas.

He added that new wells have been concluded, which has allowed the 
country to increase its reserves and guarantee a similar production for 
next year.

Lage noted that country has also acquired the skills to give services 
to the extraction wells, something for which the island depended on 
foreign companies in the past.

He explained that today Cuba has 12 machines for the drilling of wells 
and seven others for repair work.

Lage was accompanied by the Minister of the Basic Industry, Yadira 
García, and by Iván Ordaz, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party 
in Matanzas province.