CDMX, Mexico. – The general director of Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, stated this Wednesday that the state company maintains a single current commercial contract with the Government of Cuba for the supply of oil and derivatives, and reported that in 2025 shipments to the Island amounted to 496 million dollars, a proportion that it described as “marginal” within the company’s total sales.
In that sense, Rodríguez Padilla maintained that the volume shipped in 2025 represented “less than 1%” of crude oil production and that, in PEMEX’s oil sales, it is equivalent to 0.1%. “I mean, it’s very, very little,” he said during the Mexican president’s daily press conference. Claudia Sheinbaum.
The head of PEMEX specified that the current agreement with the Cuban Government dates back to 2023 and described it as “a normal commercial contract”, while highlighting that the oil company maintains energy relations with more than fifty nations.
In this framework, Rodríguez Padilla pointed out that payments for exports to Cuba have been made in accordance with the provisions of the contract. He also explained that the supply operates as a flexible mechanism: “The contract is open, it is based on their needs, they request us based on our availability.”
Sheinbaum publicly supported the link with Havana and rejected the existence of opacity in the bilateral relationship. “There is nothing hidden, there is nothing dark, there is nothing bad that is being done. Mexico has always supported Cuba,” he stated.
The president acknowledged that the energy supply occurs in a “complex” international scenario, after announcements in the United States about possible trade sanctions linked to the oil trade towards Cuba. Even so, he maintained that Mexico will maintain humanitarian support while the oil issue is being defined: “We are going to send humanitarian aid in the meantime, while the oil issue is resolved.”
Sheinbaum framed that position as a policy that, he said, transcends administrations and parties. “Mexico does not abandon anyone. Neither its people nor a people that is suffering,” he added.
The Mexican Government’s explanation comes after weeks of public tension over Washington’s policy towards the countries that supply Cuba.
Last week, US President Donald Trump declared “national emergency” with respect to Cuba, considering that “the policies, practices and actions” of Havana constitute “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
In response to the emergency, Trump signed an executive order that establishes an additional tax on imports from countries that “sell” or “provide” oil to Cuba, directly or indirectly.
