Refinery in Cuba. Approximate location 23.13651, -82.32186.
RefineryCubaCO₂ estimate (modelled)
CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery is a refinery in Cuba. Its listed capacity is 20,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Cuba Petróleo SA. By capacity it ranks #3 among 3 oil refineries in Cuba. It emits about 85,888 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 20k passenger cars. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 50% below the national median for this sector.
Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-1753539.
Source data, measured cross-checks and calculated values are kept separate. No confidence percentage is invented.
Same Climate TRACE subsector; closest non-placeholder modelled CO₂e values. Russia and Belarus excluded.
PowerAtlas operating assets, ordered by great-circle distance from published coordinates.
At 20,000 BBL per day, CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery is around the median refinery in Cuba (22,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations — heat that must be supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion, and losses through uninsulated vessels and piping represent wasted fuel. Removable modular insulation can cut those losses by 80–96%, surface-cooling equipment to ≤45°C, with payback often under 2 years. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.
Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.
This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:
Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.
At its reported 86k t CO₂e/yr (Scope 1), CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery carries no domestic carbon price; refinerys are not a CBAM-covered good, so there is no border-carbon liability. At the EU ETS reference price (€75/t) the emissions carry an indicative carbon value of €6.5M/yr. The fastest decarbonization lever is energy efficiency: eliminating heat loss on hot equipment (removable insulation, steam & waste-heat recovery) typically cuts 2–5% of fuel-related CO₂ — here ≈2k t–4k t/yr, worth €129k–€324k, with payback up to 2 years. No domestic carbon price — but cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizer and hydrogen exported to the EU face CBAM at €75/t (rising to 100% by 2034).
Carbon price: EU CBAM €75/t · EU ETS €79/t, July 2, 2026, refreshed live via Carbon Hub. CO₂: Climate TRACE. Efficiency range: US DOE / ASTM C680 (method). Indicative carbon value, not the cash bill — free allocation applies; not compliance advice. Estimate the saving for this site →
Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Cuba Petróleo SA. All facilities by this operator →
CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery sits in a tropical savanna climate zone (Köppen Aw), at 23.1°N in the northern hemisphere.
Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
The local climate sets how fast unprotected steel, protective coatings and the insulation on hot process equipment degrade at this site. It sits in an extreme marine/tropical environment (estimated ISO 9223 class CX — Extreme), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.
In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1250 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.96× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1188 W/m² of that. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #3 largest of 3 oil refineries in Cuba by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).
Coordinates 23.13651, -82.32186. View on OpenStreetMap.
For a refinery, the main modular-insulation targets are crude & vacuum distillation columns, fired heaters, heat exchangers, steam lines, valves & flanges. Typical hot-surface ranges used for screening: 150–550 °C.
A first-pass insulation screen suggests about 31,000 MWh/year of recoverable heat-loss reduction and about 6,200 t CO₂e/year of avoided emissions. Screening estimate scaled from installed process-heat projects and surface-temperature reduction data.
See Inzonex Modular Insulation → Run the calculator →
Screening calculation from facility class, capacity and open emissions/energy context. Engineering survey required before procurement.
Start with a thermal survey of valves, flanges, doors and bends. Removable modular insulation keeps maintenance access open while lowering exposed-surface temperature and wasted heat.
For energy-efficiency projects around process heat, likely external funding channels include:
Sources: country climate-finance facilities and public development-bank programmes.
CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery is a refinery in Cuba. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.
The open dataset lists 20,000 BBL per day of capacity for CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery.
The page uses about 85,888 t CO₂e/year from the open dataset It ranks #7 among facilities in Cuba by estimated CO₂.
CUPET Nico Lopez Refinery is in Cuba at approximately 23.13651, -82.32186.
The operator recorded in the open dataset is Cuba Petróleo SA.
