The Matanzas Supertanker Base, partially consumed by a large-scale fire in August 2022, could recover its capacity to store 200,000 cubic meters of fuel within four years, according to estimates by those responsible for its reconstruction.
Liber Sams Toledo, head of the investment area, confirmed to the Granma newspaper that the work to restore the first of the four affected tanks will begin this month.
The investments for the integral recovery of the enclave include fourteen work objects, among them the completion of interconnections with the docks, the construction of the tanks and the new test laboratory.
Also included in this plan is the resizing of the electrical system and the rehabilitation of maintenance workshops with new mechanical, electrical and machining units, the information added.
Among the immediate tasks is the leveling of the land until the required demand is achieved. Once the base with its foundation is built, the mechanical assembly of the first tank will begin, which is estimated to be in April.
According to Sams Toledo, the junction of that tank marks the start of the second stage of the recovery after completing the demolition phase of the damaged objects and buildings and cleaning up the contaminated areas.
Specialists expect it will take about 16 months to build the new structure, slightly smaller in diameter than the tanks destroyed by fire, but with a fairly similar structure, including the internal floating aluminum membrane and the geodesic dome.
In addition, it will have conditions to operate the fuels with greater security, since it will have an underground electrical system.
The official assured that the distance between the deposits will now be about 110 meters, almost four times greater than before. Another marked difference is related to the containment bucket or dam, whose capacity will be greater than that of the tank so that in the event of a spill all the crude remains concentrated in that structure.
The publication points out that the dam will be built with earth covered with concrete, a quality that prevents the collapse of that structure when it is attacked by fire. There will also be more powerful foam cannons, and a new position for firefighters in case of emergency, established at a greater distance from the fire.
Engineer Rigel Rodríguez, director of the Fuel Marketing Territorial Division, stressed that one of the purposes has been to conceive more resistant projects in which all systems engage and show vitality in the event of accidents of any nature.
In turn, he reported on the restitution of two main lines to connect the docks with the Base, one through a 20-inch diameter pipeline that leads the diesel to the tanks in the waste area, and the 24-inch line, which allows the passage of crude oil to other vital points.
The supertanker base, located in the industrial zone of the city of Matanzas, was affected by a large-scale fire caused, according to official versions, by the impact of an electric discharge on the dome of one of its tanks.
Despite the efforts of various units of the Fire Department, the tank on fire exploded and the flames gradually spread to the rest of the tanks. In the event, 17 people died, most of them firefighters who participated in extinction work.
In addition, another 129 people were injured and were treated in hospitals in Matanzas and Havana.
