The transfer of Cuban ships between Mexico and the Island, alerted since May by specialists and verified by this newspaper through maritime monitoring pages, already has an approximate number of oil donated to Havana. According to Reuters calculationspublished this Thursday, up to two million barrels has been delivered by the Administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the last four months.
With this, the North American country has been, as of the second quarter of 2023, the second largest supplier of crude oil to Cuba, ahead of Russia and behind Venezuela.
In total, Mexico has supplied Cuba since April with some 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Olmeca light crude, says the British agency, a variety that “is better suited to Cuba’s old refineries than Venezuela’s heavy oil.”
Russia supplied Cuba with some 12,000 bpd of oil, mostly crude, between February and July, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Against this amount, Russia supplied Cuba with some 12,000 bpd of oil, mostly crude, between February and July, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.
The British agency highlights that to move cargo from Mexico, Cuba has begun to use its own tankers, such as the Vilma and the share, not sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury.
Since July, details Reuters, the Vilma, previously used to transport Venezuelan crude to the island, it has made two trips from the Mexican terminal of Pajaritos, in Veracruz, to the refineries in Cienfuegos and Havana. From the same Veracruz port and also to Cienfuegos, the Share in June, before continuing his trip to Venezuela, where, according to the British agency, he also loaded crude oil.
The note mentions that other Cuban ships have been repaired or inspected in recent years at a shipyard in Veracruz, including the Esperanza, blacklisted in the United States, which is currently there. In short, as the Reuters text titles, the island’s oil tankers are “regular visitors” to Mexican ports.
On the other hand, the tanker Bicentennial, of the state monopoly Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), has made at least four trips from Mexico to Cuba this year.
In the midst of the unstoppable fuel crisis, which is causing long lines at gas stations to emerge again, Mexico’s aid to Cuba is paramount
Last June, journalist Gerardo Aburto announced that the ship Share It left the Mexican port of Coatzacoalcos for the island with a cargo of 350,000 barrels of crude, and accused Pemex and President López Obrador of diverting the nation’s resources to “give away crude to the oppressive government of Cuba.”
“The shipment order was signed by Alfredo Vargas Luna, manager of Hydrocarbons Marketing (GCH), who in turn received instructions from his boss, Carlos Pérez Téllez, commercial manager of the Marketing and Operations Branch belonging to Pemex-Exploration and Production (PEP), in charge of the engineer Angel Cid who is the Manager of the Subsidiary”, indicated Aburto showing the invoice of the transaction, which revealed that Pemex sold to Gasolineras del Bienestar – a government program to support state institutions and the initiative private company in Mexico – the 350,000 barrels of Istmo oil (a variant of crude used to make gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene) to be sent to the Island.
No other official instance, such as Customs or other Pemex departments, was notified of the transaction through the proper documentation. The journalist calculates that, judging by the price of Istmo crude, the value of the cargo could be set at between 18 and 20 million dollars.
In the midst of the unstoppable fuel crisis, which is causing long lines at gas stations to emerge again, Mexico’s aid to Cuba is paramount. Venezuela, the main source of oil supply to the Island since the beginning of this century, has been decreasing its deliveries. Last July, it sent 53,000 bpd, 22,000 less than the previous month, when it sent 75,000, although this last shipment was much higher. than the monthly average of the previous year.
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