MIAMI, United States. – Small private Cuban companies have begun to directly import fuel, while international companies based in Cuba are also studying this route, as reported by EFE.
According to the report from the Spanish news agency, it is a limited alternative aimed at business self-consumption, without the capacity to cover the country’s energy needs, estimated at about 110,000 barrels per day, of which 40,000 come from its own production.
According to several sources cited by EFE, the Cuban Government held meetings in recent days with local entrepreneurs and foreign businessmen to explain how this management could be implemented, at a time when “economic and social paralysis” is advancing on the Island.
These meetings would seek to specify the announcement made in November by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fragawho said that “shortly” foreign and mixed companies would be allowed to import their own fuel when “necessary.”
Until now, the Cuban State maintained a monopoly on the import of oil and fuels – mainly through its own and rented tankers – and also on the retail sale of refined products within the country. Participants in the aforementioned meetings explained to EFE that the import of fuel tanks inside cargo ships would be processed like other products purchased abroad, through a state importer, a procedure they described as usually slow.
The report added that, since it is dangerous material, the process would include additional security requirements, as well as the obligation to have a safe and certifiable location at the destination or, failing that, store the containers in equipped state facilities. The Cuban authorities, according to the attendees cited by EFE, stressed that the fuel imported by individuals will be “exclusively for self-consumption” and that resale is not permitted.
According to interested parties consulted by EFE, one of the modalities contemplated is the importation in cylindrical stainless steel tanks of the T11 isotank type, with a capacity of between 21,000 and 26,000 liters. These containers can be installed on freighters by inserting them into a metal structure of standard measurements.
EFE also reported that several companies based in the United States have specific licenses to export diesel in isotanks to Cuba, but only for private clients, while some businessmen on the Island explore purchase options in other countries in the region.
Recently, The Economist published that Washington would be considering allowing a certain volume of fuel to enter Cuba to meet basic needs.
For its part, the Cuban Government activated a contingency plan to try to survive without imported oil, a strategy that EFE described as unsustainable in the medium term. Hospitals operate with minimal services, public transportation has practically disappeared and fuel is severely rationed.
