Cuba increasingly is turning to Russia and Mexico for oil to ease an acute shortage of diesel and gasoline and supplement dwindling supplies of Venezuelan crude and fuel, reports Reuters quoting shipping data and sources.
Cuba turns to Russia
Venezuela for more than two decades has been Cuba’s main political ally and largest provider of crude and fuel to the island nation, delivering fuel oil for power generation, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and cooking gas.
But the U.S.-sanctioned South American nation’s struggle to produce enough fuel for its own needs have left it unable to fully feed its Caribbean neighbor. Venezuela’s oil exports to Cuba so far this year have dropped to 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) from almost 80,000 in 2020.
Under President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico has sent a rising volume of fuel to the communist-run nation, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data.
Cuba has also imported since November at least five cargoes from Russia, a long-time supplier, as well as fuel from Caribbean terminals and Europe, the data shows.
Tankers at the Cuban port
A tanker owned by Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Bicentenario, since April has discharged twice at a Cuban refinery in Havana, among the few that produce gasoline on the island, according to the Eikon data and TankerTrackers.com.
The ship was seen as recently as Sunday departing from Havana Harbor.
A separate, independently-owned vessel, the Panama-flagged Fortunato, has also twice visited Cuban ports since January from Mexico’s Salina Cruz terminal carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), typically used for cooking, the data showed.
The fuel, though not enough to meet demand, may prove a lifeline for the crisis-plagued administration of Miguel Diaz-Canel, which has imposed rationing, prompting days-long lines for gas, diesel and propane across the Caribbean island.
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Source: Reuters
