Cuba Seeks Oil from Africa Amid Sanctions

Cuba is looking to Africa for oil to compensate for the diminishing supply it used to receive from Venezuela, largely due to pressures from President Donald Trump’s administration. A report from 14 years old Medio highlighted this development recently.

Jorge Piñon, an energy specialist at the University of Texas, noted that an oil tanker named Mia Grace, flagged from the Marshall Islands, set sail from Lomé, Togo, recently. It’s expected to dock in Havana by February 4.

Referring to the ship’s capacity of 50,000 tonnes and its observed draft, Piñon remarked that it appears to be “not fully loaded.” He underlined that while he couldn’t confirm the nature of the cargo, it might consist of diesel or fuel oil.

“Togo doesn’t refine oil, but it does export refined products and possesses a solid logistics and maritime transport setup,” he explained. He estimated the tanker could be transporting around 314,500 barrels of diesel or 280,500 barrels of heavy oil.

Cuba’s energy infrastructure is heavily reliant on fuel imports due to the dilapidated state of its power plants, which have suffered from decades of poor management under communist rule. The regime also receives oil from other countries, like Mexico.

Piñon suggested that the oil might have been acquired through a “cash purchase” using “European intermediaries” via the Cuban state oil import and export entity, Cubametales. The U.S. had previously targeted Cubametales with sanctions during Trump’s administration for trading Venezuelan oil in exchange for support for Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

With the upcoming arrival of the vessel in Havana, Piñon remarked that this situation illustrates how Cuba is diversifying its oil sources, especially given the pressures from the U.S. following the shift in Venezuela’s oil supply, which had been crucial for Cuba for the past 25 years.

Last week, President Trump declared that the flow of oil and money to Cuba was being curtailed, urging the Castro regime to negotiate an agreement, emphasizing that “there is no oil or money going to Cuba.” The message was delivered in a post on Truth Social.

In December, just prior to Trump’s announcement, U.S. authorities detained a Cuba-bound oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

Following the recent arrest of Maduro and his wife, news emerged of the deaths of 32 Cuban military personnel who were reportedly defending Maduro’s regime. This raises questions about the extent of Cuba’s military involvement in Venezuela, especially since both governments have previously denied such ties. The remains of the deceased soldiers were returned to Havana last week under circumstances that remain unclear.