Cuban ministry advances installation of fuel tank at Supertanker Base

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 6 (ACN) Workers of the Construction and Assembly Company and the Ministry of Construction are making progress on the foundations of the base of the first tank of the Matanzas Supertanker Base, one of the tanks that burned down last August.

Liber Sams Toledo, head of Investments at the Matanzas Fuel Commercialization Company, informed Granma that it is a tank very similar in its structure, but in conditions to operate the crude oil with greater safety.

The specialist pointed out that the definitive assembly of tank 88 - the first of the four tanks already planned, with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters - should be completed in about 16 months.

Sams Toledo pointed out that the new tank will also have a geodesic dome, as well as internal floating membranes that prevent the emission of gases generated by the crude.

Some of the improvements include the construction of a concrete-lined cubicle, capable of retaining the entire contents of the tank in the event of an accidental fuel spill.

He said that late this month or early May, once the foundry of the 61-meter diameter reinforced concrete base is completed, the assembly of the tank structure will begin.

After several months of demolition of installations, earth moving and compaction of the land affected by the fire, the first fuel tank is being built with the final purpose of recovering the maximum storage capacity of 200,000 cubic meters, lost after the incident.