HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Power was restored across Cuba on Friday following a large-scale blackout, but the island’s energy crisis remained acute, with oil supplies tapped out.

The Caribbean island of 9.6 million people, under a United States (US) energy blockade since January, has suffered critically low energy supplies in recent days.

Some 65 per cent of Cuban territory endured simultaneous blackouts on Tuesday, data compiled by AFP showed.

And on Wednesday, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state television that Cuban oil reserves had “run out.”

Following power outages in seven of Cuba’s 15 departments on Thursday, the national electricity company (UNE) said Friday it had reconnected the power grid.

Scheduled blackouts continued, however, and the most important of Cuba’s aging thermoelectric plants — which sustain electricity generation — remained out of service following a breakdown.

The latest outage prompted a wave of public outcry.

A resident of San Miguel del Padron, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, told AFP that people had protested by banging pots and pans on Wednesday evening.

Several other similar small demonstrations were held in neighborhoods across the capital, according to accounts gathered by AFP.

Havana blames Washington’s blockade for its grim energy shortages, while the United States maintains that the crisis has resulted from poor management.

Relations between the two countries are dismal, with US President Donald Trump slapping sanctions on Cuba and musing about taking it over.

Despite tensions, intergovernmental talks are ongoing.

A high-level diplomatic meeting took place in Havana on April 10, marking the first time a US government plane had landed in the Cuban capital since 2016.

On Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with senior Cuban officials in Havana, with the communist government framing the visit as a way to ease bilateral tensions.