On Friday, August 5, 2022, at approximately 7:00 PM, a electrical discharge hit the national crude oil tank number 52 of the battery of the Matanzas Supertanker Base, causing a large fire, which later at 4:00 AM the next day, Saturday, August 6, caused an ignition due to overheating of the nearby tank 51, containing fuel oil. This version of the lightning strike has been unanimously accepted, without any evidence being found that the original cause of the accident was something else.
However, it is valid to ask ourselves: is this accident so accidental? To answer this question, let us remember that Cuba has a high incidence rate of electrical discharges, particularly in the summer. So with a superficial reading it could be answered that the accident was caused by a natural accident, lightning or electric shock.
But it turns out that since the work of Benjamin Franklin more than 250 years ago, science has come a long way in protecting against these natural phenomena of electrical discharges. There are lightning rods or collectors of different models, which comply with the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (IEC). In Cuba there is a highly developed protection against electric shocks under the requirements of the Cuban Electrotechnical Regulation for electrical installations in buildings, lightning protection, storage tanks for oil and its derivatives, structured wiring, power lines, communications and data.
In our country, all these lightning protection systems must be designed and certified by entities that have the corresponding certification from the Fire Protection Agency (ACPI). In short, everything is written and the protection system, at least on paper, is armored and when a disaster occurs like the one that occurred at the Super Tanker Base, it is undeniable that something went wrong. And as an example we have the practice that large fuel tanks must be protected by at least four collectors. A first alert was the electrical discharge that hit the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant on May 22, just a few hundred meters from the Supertanker Base. This electrical discharge took out of service the most efficient thermoelectric plant in Cuba and, although it was said that the lightning struck a lightning rod, the authorities also said that this protection device was destroyed and could not withstand the power of the discharge.
Given the silence of the authorities about the failure of the protection system against electric shocks, DIARIO DE CUBA investigates the scene of the incident and obtains statements from a former worker at the Matanzas Supertanker Base and a local neighbor.
The first of them states: “There is a protection system against electric shocks at the Supertanker Base and there is also a fire protection system. What I know is that the anti-lightning system had not been properly maintained for years. I know how the issue of inspections by the ACPI and other organizations was resolved, but I assure you that the electrical discharge protection and grounding system had not been reversed or repaired for a long time.”
And this source adds: “If this protection system was in perfect condition, it was very, very difficult for the incident to occur.”
For his part, the neighbor of the place states: “I spoke with the firefighters because I know some of them and they assured me that in some tanks, the lightning rod system was not active, that is, it was not working due to lack of wiring.”
This indirect source should not normally be taken into account as truthful, but in Cuba where secrecy and opacity prevail and all sensitive information is considered a state secretit is well worth listening to these testimonies, taking them with reservations and asking the management of Cuba Petroleos (CUPET) to speak publicly and truthfully and report on the state of the fire protection of the Supertanker Base, as well as that the different Agencies in charge of the issue report transparently on the results of the different periodic inspections carried out at the aforementioned Supertanker Base.
The damage to human lives, injuries, material goods and damage to the environment deserve a transparent response from the Cuban authorities and, why not, knowing the names of those responsible for possible negligence.