The recent completion of a third processing run of domestic crude oil at the Hermanos Diaz Oil Refinery in Santiago de Cuba—one of the Caribbean nation’s four units—highlights the strides made by Cuban scientists, engineers, and technicians.

Their fundamental goal is to ensure the island has a reliable fuel supply derived from its own resources.

Engineer Irene Barbado Lucio, the refinery’s general manager—an entity under the Cuba-Petroleo Union—told the newspaper *Granma* that this operation yielded approximately 2,000 tons of naphtha and 10,000 tons of fuel oil. These results surpassed those of two previous runs conducted in March and May.

The expert noted that, on this occasion, protocols for future modifications were refined to account for the specific characteristics of the domestic crude, which is highly viscous and has high acidity and sulfur content.

Meanwhile, engineer Cristobal Acosta Blanco told the newspaper that measures were also taken to ensure the continued viability of the infrastructure.

All this scientific and technological work demonstrates the Cuban people’s resilience and their unwavering determination to find solutions to the complex adversities caused by the unjust, genocidal economic blockade and the criminal energy embargo imposed by the United States.

They achieve this through collective ingenuity and a powerful movement of innovators and efficiency experts.

These activities at the Hermanos Diaz Refinery in Santiago are taking place alongside other initiatives at the Petroleum Research Center—specifically those involving a thermoconversion process—which were announced by President Miguel Diaz-Canel during a meeting with members of the National Innovation Council.

jdt/ga/abm