AREQUIPA, Peru – Venezuela’s oil exports increased 10.5% over the past year. However, the Castro regime in Cuba did not benefit from this increase, according to reports the news agency Reuters.
Figures shared by the media, corresponding to the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), indicate that Caracas sent 32,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to Havana, a figure much lower than the 56,000 in 2023.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, the increase in crude oil exports was accompanied by an increase in production, which grew by 17%, averaging 914,000 bpd in the first 11 months of 2024, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). ).
Of Venezuelan oil, some 222,000 bpd were exported to the United States, which became its second largest market, behind China, which acquired 351,000 bpd, a figure that represents a drop of 18% compared to last year. Exports to Europe, meanwhile, almost tripled, reaching 75,000 bpd.
The increases in the production and export of crude oil in Venezuela transcend despite the big explosion and fire in one of the country’s main natural gas centers, which affected production; the application of stricter sanctions by the US since June; and the arrest of the country’s former oil minister, Pedro Tellechea, and former executives of the state oil company, accused of corruption.
Cuba, for its part, experienced its biggest energy crisis in decades in 2024, marked by the obsolescence of thermoelectric plants, constant and long electrical blackouts, service cuts and impacts on transportation derived from fuel shortages.
Given the drop in Venezuelan oil imports to Cuba by more than 40%, the Castro dictatorship has found in Mexico another ally and a lifeline to make up for that lack.
Only between January and September 2024, the Government of Mexico exported 31.3 thousand barrels of crude oil and 2.9 thousand barrels of petroleum products per day to the Island, which represents 25% more than what was exported in the same period of the year. preceding year.
A report of PMexican oil (Pemex) delivered to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that exports are valued at $500 million.
In total, Pemex shipments to Cuba represent 2.9% of Mexico’s crude oil exports and 1.5% of total oil export sales, as the report itself indicates.
