Russian ship unloads fuel in the port of Matanzas, Cuba, hit by the energy crisis

A tanker carrying some 700,000 barrels of Russian fuel oil is delivering its cargo at a Cuban terminal, ship tracking data from the Refinitiv Eikon technology platform shows.

With a fuel shortage that has forced power cuts and rationing on the island, Cuba has increased fuel imports in recent months with the aim of complementing domestic production and imports from its political ally Venezuela, which in turn time is struggling to produce enough fuel.

A part of the purchases comes from Russia, a country that has supplied Cuba intermittently, while the Cuban government tries to limit its growing energy import bill.

The Liberian-flagged tanker Aframax Suvorovsky Prospect, which loaded at Russia’s Ust-Luga terminal, arrived in Cuban waters late last week, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel monitoring data.

The tanker, owned by a unit of the Russian shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, included in the blacklist of the United States, turned off its transponder on Sunday after beginning to unload at the Matanzas terminal, where the state-owned Cubametales usually stores crude oil and fuel, they showed. the data.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

An earlier shipment of fuel from the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok, on the tanker Eco City of Angels, was received in February at the same Cuban port, according to Eikon data.

The US and Canada have imposed sanctions on Russian oil and fuel since March over its invasion of Ukraine, while Europe and Britain are moving towards a year-end embargo on imports of Russian crude.

But some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have continued to allow Russian tankers to dock at their ports or take in imports of Russian crude, fuel and petrochemicals. Brazil’s government said this month that the country will import as much diesel as possible from Russia to supply drivers and the agricultural industry.

The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz Canel, has criticized the high world prices of fuels.

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