The shipments occur at a time of serious crisis in the Cuban electrical system, with power outages of up to 20 hours or more a day.
CDMX, Mexico. – Two ships from Mexico with a total of 80,000 barrels of fuel are scheduled to arrive “in days” in Cuba to help alleviate the blackout crisis that is hitting the Island, according to ship tracking data from the Energy Institute of the University of Texas (USA). provided to the EFE agency and reproduced this Friday by various media.
According to that report, the ships are the Ocean Mariner and the Eugenia Gas, both flying the Liberian flag. EFE indicated that the Eugenia Gas was already sailing around Cuba along its northern coast heading to the port of Moa (Holguín), after loading at the Pajaritos complex of the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), in southern Mexico, while the Ocean Mariner would still be completing loading at those same facilities before leaving for the Island.
The shipments occur at a time of serious crisis in the Cuban electrical system, with power outages of up to 20 hours or even longer in large areas of the country. In this framework, EFE indicated that 80,000 barrels would represent “a little more” of the crude oil deficit for one day, estimating needs of around 110,000 barrels per day, with about 40,000 coming from national production.
The news agency also frames the operation in the uncertainty over supply from Venezuela, the main external source of crude oil for Cuba, amid increased US pressure on oil transportation linked to Caracas. In particular, on December 16, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, advertisement what he described as a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, according to Reuters.
In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum he assured this Thursday that his government will maintain the relationship and the historical policy of support for Havana. “That relationship has always been a difference between the Government of the United States and the Government of Mexico. It does not have to influence the Mexico-United States relationship and our position is sovereign, it is a sovereign decision and it has a lot to do with the humanism that we represent,” said Sheinbaum.
The president was questioned after the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives will hold a hearing titled “Relations of Mexico with the region”in which it was proposed that the Aztec country should “reconsider” its support for the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela.
Regional tension has also increased after the seizure by the United States of the oil tanker Skipper in Caribbean waters, an episode that Havana described as an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism.” In parallel, The New York Times, based on internal PDVSA documents and maritime tracking data, showed that part of the crude oil allocated to Cuba would end up being resold in Asia, mainly in China, to obtain foreign currency.
