The Venezuelan state oil company (PDVSA) loads a supertanker in the port of San José with 1.53 million barrels of fuel to send to Cuba, according to what the British agency Reuters published on Monday. The amount is one of the largest in memory and is made up, according to the note, of 400,000 barrels of fuel oil and 1.13 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy oil.
Nolan, the Panamanian-flagged ship, is owned by Nigeria-based company Thomarose Global Ventures and is included in the list of companies sanctioned by the US for being part of an oil smuggling network that benefits the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds force, both considered terrorist organizations by Washington.
Although the ship has not shown its position since December, when it arrived in Venezuela, PDVSA documents indicate that it will set sail later this month in the direction of Matanzas.
Cuba has problems with the unloading and is forced to transfer the fuel with smaller ships in ship-to-ship operations to the terminal
Reuters affirms that since the fire at the Supertanker base in that port, the largest on the Island and whose explosion ended last August with the lives of 17 peopleCuba has problems with the unloading and is forced to transfer the fuel with smaller ships in ship-to-ship operations to the terminal.
The high shipment of fuel occurs a few days after the Raúl Castro’s visit to Venezuela, where he participated in the act for the tenth anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez. The general, who was at the event with other active and retired Latin American leaders, such as Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega, Manuel Zelaya and Luis Arce, recalled the close friendship between his brother and predecessor, Fidel Castro, and the Venezuelan commander .
Both signed an agreement for the exchange of oil by professionals –mainly doctors and intelligence officers– in 2000 in order to guarantee fuel to the Island. In that agreement an average of 53,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Caracas to Havana was established. . During the first years the figures were far exceeded, reaching figures of up to 90,000 bpd, but since the Venezuelan crisis began to worsen in 2017, the numbers have fallen.
Last year Venezuela sent 53,600 bpd, however, while this year started with a low figure, since in January an average of 39,775 bpd arrived. The amount rose 34% in February to 53,320 bpd.
Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit in December to Algeria, Turkey, Russia and China was fundamental in this sense, but also Ramiro Valdés’s visit to Caracas in the middle of that month.
Last December, Reuters made public an investigation which determined that more than two thirds of fuel exports from Venezuela to Cuba are made with false documentation, changing names of ships or carrying out cargo transfers on the high seas to avoid US sanctions. The volume of crude oil and other derivatives transferred in this way amounts to more than 360 million barrels.
Cuba continues immersed in a major energy crisis that translates into more blackouts than the government calculated or, at least, said it expected the population for this year. After a summer in 2022 with blackouts and scheduled cuts that exceeded 12 and 14 hours a day, the regime sought help from its allies this December to try to calm the situation and with it the spirits of thousands of Cubans who began to the streets in protests across the country.
Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit in December to Algeria, Turkey, Russia and China was fundamental in this regard, but also that of Ramiro Valdés in the middle of that month to Caracas, where he evaluated the cooperation between both countries.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
