2023-06-10 15:15:15
With the recent arrival of oil supplies from Mexico and Russia and the rapprochement of trade between Venezuela and the United States, Cuba may succeed in alleviating its serious fuel crisis.
Since the end of March, the communist island has been witnessing long lines of cars at petrol stations.
Cuba, which has been subject to a US embargo since 1962, no longer produces only a third of its daily fuel consumption and is facing the worst economic crisis in three decades, with frequent cuts in electricity and foodstuffs.
However, it has recently received supplies of oil that may ease its situation a bit.
The Vessel Finder website for tracking ship movements reported that the Mexican oil tanker “Bisentenario”, with an estimated tonnage of 265,000 barrels, arrived on Tuesday at the port of Havana, and Agence France-Presse noted that it was moored Thursday at the Nico Lopez refinery in the Cuban capital.
At the end of May, the huge oil tanker “Limo”, flying the flag of Cameroon and coming from Russia, arrived at the port of Matanzas, regarding 100 km east of Havana, carrying an estimated load of 800,000 barrels.
Jorge Pinion, an energy policy expert at the University of Texas, said the oil supply might “return to an acceptable level” in Cuba.
He pointed out that with an estimated refining capacity of 22,000 barrels per day at the Havana refinery, it would be possible to secure supplies to the capital for a period of three weeks.
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“no money”
Pinion said that this is the third time since the beginning of the year that the Bicentenario ship has arrived in Cuba, carrying supplies sent by the government of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It was not possible at the present time to contact the public company “Petroleos Mexicanos” to respond to questions from AFP.
The Cuban analyst and professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Arturo López Levy, pointed out that Mexico, aspiring to play a first-class role in the region, is calling for the lifting of the US embargo on Cuba, while maintaining dialogue with the United States.
On the other hand, relations between Havana and Moscow have intensified in recent months with the implementation of ambitious projects in several sectors and the increase in visits of senior officials between the two countries.
Benyon said, “Cuba has no money, and I doubt that it will be paying for this oil. I think that Mexico, instead of paying money to send Cuban doctors, is doing it with oil,” at a time when this country suffers from a shortage of doctors.
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In 2022, Cuba witnessed a fire in its main fuel storage center in the province of Matanzas, coinciding with a decline in supplies from Venezuela, its main ally in the region.
Benyon said that the island produces regarding 40,000 barrels per day, but it needs an additional 100,000 barrels to meet its demand, noting that its partners cover part of the difference, with a deficit of at least 20,000 barrels remaining.
He pointed out that Cuban refineries might not process heavy Venezuelan oil, which forced Havana in May to re-sell cargo that had come from Caracas.
What complicates these supplies, in Benyon’s view, is that the US energy giant Chevron can now “transport 100,000 barrels per day from Venezuela to the United States.”
Washington, which has severed relations with Venezuela since 2019, softened its sanctions once morest Caracas in November, allowing, for example, Chevron to operate in this Latin American country.
“The Venezuelan oil company has become more interested in delivering these quantities to Chevron,” the expert said. However, Arturo López Levy believes that “if Venezuela emerges from its dispute with the United States and from its isolation, the gold mine will return to work,” which will indirectly strengthen the position of Cuba, which will also benefit from part of this increase in production.
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