HAVANA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The production of crude oil in Cuba is projected to have increased by 4 percent in 2021 compared to the same period last year, Cuban daily newspaper Granma reported Thursday.

"It breaks a downward trend, after the annual reduction of oil production on the island fluctuated between 3 and 7 percent in the past decade," Osvaldo Lopez, a high-ranking official from Cuba's state-operated oil company Cubapetroleo, was quoted as saying.

"Most of the crude oil production in Cuba is used in power generation," he added.

According to Granma, the fundamental causes of the production increase include oil drilling works on the periphery of the western city of Varadero and the discovery of a new oil field in Santa Cruz del Norte, a fishing town located some 40 km east of Havana. Enditem