Iran Press/ Iran news: Alberto González Casals told reporters on Tuesday the fact that on August 5, Cuba's oil facilities caught fire in the city of Matanzas, which was followed by several explosions.
In line with the goals of activating energy diplomacy by the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, after a massive fire occurred in oil facilities in Cuba by lightning, a group of Iranian experts was sent to help the country.
After lightning struck a large crude oil storage facility in the city of Matanzas, Cuba, and four consecutive explosions that injured more than 50 people, the Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji, ordered a technical and specialized team from Iran to be dispatched to the Latin American country upon its request.
Cuban Ambassador stated that due to the explosion in the facility, unfortunately, two people lost their lives and more than 100 people were injured, and several people went missing, adding: "Unfortunately, this incident has also affected the environment."
The ambassador of Cuba in Tehran, recalling that at the same time as this incident happened, the countries of Iran, Mexico, and Venezuela announced their readiness to help control the fire and stated: “Iran has a lot of experience in controlling the fire of oil facilities, including extinguishing Kuwait's oil wells, and therefore Iran has sent a group of experts to Cuba to help contain the blaze.”
González Casals thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ministry of Petroleum, Javad Owji, the Minister of Petroleum, Bahram Einollahi, the Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, the Red Crescent Society, and the people of Iran who always stood by the Cuban people in difficult situations.
With the activation of energy diplomacy in the Ministry of Petroleum, providing technical and engineering services and consultations to friendly and cooperating countries is followed as one of the policies of the Ministry.
Iran has a significant history of providing such services. As earlier, during the fire of Kuwait oil facilities during the Iraq-Kuwait war, Iranian experts played a prominent role in controlling the fire of Kuwait oil wells.
The Iranian group also plans to provide technical advice in order to secure the scene for the start of post-accident activities and to rebuild the facilities, and for this purpose, it is necessary to carry out necessary assessments of Cuban oil facilities for recovery and rehabilitation activities, especially for firefighters involved in extinguishing operations.
Evaluation of the operations and strength of the firefighters and the firefighting team in Cuba is followed as another mission of the Iranian group to identify their weaknesses and strengths and to obtain the necessary preparation for similar operations. The experience in Tehran Refinery and Bou Ali Petrochemical Plant will be transferred to the Cuban group.
The Iranian experts present in Cuba are now busy inspecting the safety of the facilities and presenting a report on the deficiencies and solutions to improve safety and fire protection (active and passive) in the facilities.
The Iranian group has prepared a proposal package to present to the oil authorities in order to transfer Cuban experts to the country and train them in special training centers for safety and firefighting and specialized field commander training courses.
On the other hand, there are going to be negotiations with the Cuban authorities so that the provision of safety engineering services with the aim of securing and improving the level of fire protection of the facilities will continue periodically by Iranian experts.
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