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

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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.

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.

Source: Reuters

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