Since January, the Sheinbaum government has delivered more than one million barrels to the island.
14ymedio, Madrid, June 30, 2025 — The oil tanker Sandino, which sails under a Cuban flag, is anchored in front of the Port of Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) where it awaits its turn to load approximately 296,000 barrels of crude destined for the refinery in Cienfuegos, Cuba, according to the local press and the Marine Traffic website. The records of the Administration of the National Port System (Asipona) reveal that this year four shipments were made to the island, three of oil and one of ammonia, two of them in January and two this June, according to Veracruz state media.
According to this information, the first shipment of the year appears in the documents of Asipona Coatzacoalcos, which reflect that the Cuban tanker Vilma was at that port between December 31, 2024 and January 3, 2025, to load 53,040 tons of Isthmus-34-Light, also bound for Cienfuegos.
A few weeks later, between January 21 and 24, the same Cuban oil tanker returned to take a similar quantity of the same product back to the island. The two shipments are equivalent to 774,000 barrels.
A few weeks later, between January 21 and 24, the same Cuban oil tanker returned to take a similar quantity of the same product back to the island. The two shipments are equivalent to 774,000 barrels
After several months without further data, the same entity’s schedule shows that between June 6 and 10, 5,000 tons of ammonia were sent to Cuba from the docks of Pemex in Pajaritos, the petrochemical compound at the port of Coatzacoalcos. The product was loaded onto the Liberian flag ship Eugenia Gas, with final destination in Havana, and it arrived in Mexico through the shipping company Tomás Ruiz.
According to the local press, ammonia is produced at the Cosoleacaque Petrochemical Complex and is used for the manufacture of fertilizers.
Currently, the Eugenia Gas appears in Moa, allegedly arriving from Coatzacoalcos on June 26.
Applying the reference calculation of 7.3 barrels per ton of crude oil, although the quantity depends on the density of the product, the total sent from Mexico to Cuba so far this year would amount to approximately 1,070,384 barrels; how Cuba acquires it is not known. At the current approximate price of a barrel, the cost would be around 60 million dollars, a sum that is very difficult for the island to pay, as it is immersed in an enormous economic crisis.
In 2024, Pemex sent to Cuba some 20,100 barrels of oil per day (bpd), 20% more than in 2023; derivatives decreased by 18%. However, the past aggregate value doubled to what it was before, reaching $600 million.
The transactions were made through Gasolinas Bienestar S. A., a subsidiary of the state-owned oil company that provides data to the United States Securities Commission, where Pemex is listed.
The exchanges began during the term of office of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, predecessor of the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who are both close to the regime in Havana. In September 2023, Chancellor Alicia Bárcena said in an interview that the country should study how to send oil to Cuba without incurring US sanctions. “Why not? We have to see how it can be done, with what kind of transaction. We have a financial situation, of course. It is not easy to donate,” said Bárcena.
The managers of the oil company have persistently denied that any of their products are being donated and most recently stated that “the sales of Gasolinas Bienestar are made under contracts denominated in pesos at current market rates. We have procedures in place to ensure that such sales are conducted in compliance with the applicable law,” they insisted.
On that occasion, Sheinbaum herself confirmed the dispatch of technical cooperation and a tanker with 400,000 barrels, but so far no data are known for 2025
Claudia Sheinbaum stated, after the collapse of the Cuban national electricity system in October 2024, that her country would continue to support Cuba in this regard even if there were criticisms, and that it would do so “for humanitarian reasons.” On that occasion, she herself confirmed the dispatch of technical cooperation and a tanker with 400,000 barrels, but so far no data are known for 2025.
Mexico, along with Venezuela and Russia, is one of the main suppliers of oil, a product that Cuba desperately needs in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis that worsens. This weekend, the island broke a new record of electricity deficit, with the lack of 1,936 megawatts on Saturday, when the demand was 3,600, indicating that only 1,664 MW were being generated, some 46% of the national needs.
The thermoelectric power plants are in poor shape, and the contribution made by solar parks during the day helps a little, but the authorities point out that the great problem today is the lack of 860 MW due to the paralysis, caused by the fuel shortage, of a significant number of generating plants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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