A tanker carrying some 700,000 barrels of Russian fuel oil is delivering its cargo at a Cuban terminal, Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data showed, in a move to ease the fuel scarcity that has forced power cuts and rationing on the island.
Cuba has ramped up fuel imports, aiming to complement domestic output and imports from its political ally Venezuela, which is itself struggling to produce enough fuel.
A portion of the purchases are coming from Russia – with the country having supplied Cuba intermittently in recent years – as the Cuban government tries to limit its rising energy import bill.
The Liberia-flagged Aframax tanker Suvorovsky Prospect, which loaded at Russia’s Ust-Luga terminal, has now arrived in Cuban waters according to Refinitiv Eikon.
The tanker, owned by a unit of US-blacklisted Russian shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, began to discharge at the Matanzas terminal, where state-run Cubametales typically stores crude and fuel, Refinitiv Eikon’s data showed.
Cuba’s foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment. President Miguel Diaz Canel has criticised high global fuel prices, which are becoming almost unaffordable for the country.
A previous fuel cargo from Russia’s Vladivostok port on the Pacific Ocean, on tanker Eco City of Angels, was received in February 2022 at the same Cuban port. Cuba has also imported at least two cargoes of Russian crude since March, according to the Eikon data.
The US and Canada have, since March, imposed sanctions on Russian oil and fuel over its invasion of Ukraine, whilst Europe and Britain are moving toward an end-of-year embargo on Russian crude imports.
But some Latin American and Caribbean countries have continued allowing Russian tankers to dock at ports or receiving imports of Russian crude, fuel and petrochemicals. Brazil’s government in July said that the country will import as much diesel as possible from Russia to supply drivers and the agricultural industry.
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