Cuba is struggling to cover a fuel shortfall as imports from Venezuela and other countries remain below historic levels and as global prices fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine make purchases nearly unaffordable, analysts say. data.
The Caribbean country, which depends on fuel imports mainly from its ally Venezuela to cover more than half of its demand, it has been facing shortages of diesel and gasoline since last month, which generates long lines in front of service stations.
Insufficient fuel imports are another major hurdle for Cuba’s economy, which is struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and tougher US sanctions imposed by the former president’s government. donald trump.
The president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, has provided Cuba with more than 32,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude since 2019 even amid US sanctions on both countries. But fuel volumes shipped have fallen as Caracas has struggled to produce refined products for its own needs, according to data.
Cuba imported some 70,000 bpd of crude and fuel oil in the first quarter of the year, below the 100,000 bpd the island typically requires to meet normal demand, Refinitiv Eikon tanker tracking data showed.
More than three-quarters came from Venezuela, but the member nation of the OPEC has drastically cut fuel shipments to Cuba from almost 44,000 bpd in 2020 to 21,000 bpd in 2021 and 22,000 bpd in the first quarter of this year, according to internal data and documents from the state company PDVSA.
Before the pandemic, Cuba’s fuel demand reached 137,000 bpd of fuel oil, diesel, gasoline, cooking gas and other refined products, reported the National Statistics Office of Cuba.
Although the nation is consuming some 110,000 bpd of fuel this year, it still needs imports to make up for insufficient domestic production, said Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Energy and Environment Program at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Cuban refineries are not 100% operational. The Havana refinery, the only facility with a catalytic cracker, is operating at around 70% of its capacity, while the Cienfuegos refinery sporadically runs 10,000 bpd and Santiago not in service,” he said.
The island’s energy and mines minister, Liván Arronte, said that Cuba, which remains under a US embargo that limits free trade with the country, is paying freight rates and other costs 20% higher than importers who bring fuel. along the same routes.