Every day more than ten tankers with the logo of the Cuba-Petróleo Union (Cupet) leave the Cienfuegos refinery and undertake a long route that takes them to Matanzas and through the municipalities of Palmira, Cruces, Lajas, El Diamante and Aguada de Pasajeros leads and Jagüey Grande. The 195-kilometer journey takes more than three hours. At the end of the road are the destroyed supertanker base – which caught fire in August 2022 and is in the process of being rebuilt with support from Venezuela – and several oil tankers whose origin and destination the regime does not disclose.
To reconstruct the important oil circuit that connects Cienfuegos to Matanzas, we have to resort to ship tracking applications, the data published by international agencies and, above all, on-site observations: every two hours a Cupet trailer leaves the refinery, loaded with about 25,000 liters of oil derivatives shipped from Venezuela and its traces are lost in the Matanzas terminals.
However, the route of the trucks and the frantic transfer of oil tankers in Cuban ports continue to call for an explanation. Where is the oil brought from Cienfuegos currently stored after the partial destruction of the supertanker base in 2022? Where is the refined fuel sent in Cuba? Why isn’t the country – which appears to be entering a new phase of blackouts – benefiting from trade in the nearly two million barrels of oil that arrive each month from Venezuela, Russia, Mexico or Algeria? the heavy crude oil of national production used in thermoelectric plants?
The frenetic transfer of oil tankers in Cuban ports continues to require explanation
One of the managers of the Cienfuegos refinery assures 14ymedio that the heavy oil that Cuban-flagged ships like the Vilma and Delsa bring from the Venezuelan port of José is processed in the facilities. “Then it’s sent to the Matanzas deposits and stored as a ‘government reserve,’ while between 10 and 20% is coupled with Cuban crude, which is very high in sulfur and high in viscosity,” he says. All work is carried out “under strict supervision”.
In addition to the trailers, Cupet uses trains with 14 tank cars, whose destination is also the Matanzas base. Some of the vehicles also go to Cabaiguán in Sancti Spíritus, where there is a small refinery, he adds.
This Wednesday, four oil tankers were anchored in Matanzas Bay and a fifth ship was expected to arrive. These are the Limousine (from Ust-Luga in Russia), the Marianna VV (from Venezuela), the Aquila (with the flag of Panama and from Santiago de Cuba) and the Primula (with the flag of Belize and with a stop in Moa, Holguín ). ), while the tanker Nicos IV, flying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, will arrive in Matanzas on Thursday after several weeks of not disclosing its actual position.
The influx of ships into the Matanzas terminal and the Cuban government’s efforts to conceal traffic no longer surprise anyone. For example, in early May, the Malta-registered oil tanker Calida docked at the Matanzas deep-sea dock. After broadcasting images of another ship, Televisión Cubana assured that it would unload 40,000 tons of diesel and confirmed that the authorities paid $29 million for the fuel, but did not reveal the origin of the product or to whom this money had been paid.
Almost all the tankers calling at other ports on the island, in particular Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Mariel, where port activity has multiplied in recent months, follow the same strategy.
The five oil tankers that fly the Cuban flag – Vilma, Alicia, Sandino, Delsa and Pastorita – normally move between the Venezuelan port of José and Jagua Bay in Cienfuegos or from one terminal to another on the island. .
The influx of ships into the Matanzas terminal and the Cuban government’s efforts to conceal traffic no longer surprise anyone
Researcher Jorge Piñón from the University of Texas, USA, informed 14ymedio about the amount of crude oil that each of these ships transported to the island in May. The Vilma – a ship that disappears from radar as soon as it approaches the Cuban coast – arrived in Cienfuegos on June 1 with 390,000 barrels of crude oil from José; The Delsa loaded the same amount, also from José, on the 30th in the port of Antilla.
The Sandino, for her part, sailed with 440,000 passengers from José to Nipe Bay in Holguín, where she arrived on May 5th. While the Alicia brought 290,000 barrels from José to Havana on May 16 and another 295,000 arrived from another Venezuelan terminal, Amuay, on the 28th.
Comparing those numbers with Portal last week, the total number of barrels of crude oil arriving on the island in May — about 58,000 a day — is consistent, Piñón claims.
In its usual monthly report on the commercial activities of Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the British agency noted a 14% drop in total exports from that country in May compared to the previous month, but Havana was again spared the cuts.
In an interview with TV Martí this Wednesday, Piñón recalled that Cuba lost a million barrels of storage capacity during the Matanzas fire and that space must be made to store the 800,000 barrels of high-quality crude oil that arrived from the island, Russia suspects the cargoes of two tankers from Venezuela were resold. He found that the crude oil to be processed at the Cienfuegos refinery was too heavy and took up too much space.
Meanwhile, the repair of the Matanzas supertanker base suggests that Cuba is busy preparing for an increase in oil shipments. The official press announced on Wednesday that repairs are being carried out on Tank 88, which they assure will be ready in April 2024. The Oil Maintenance Company (Empet) has installed the tank’s first steel plates, which will have an internal membrane made of floating aluminum and a geodesic dome. It is expected that it will be able to store 50,000 cubic meters of fuel.
In the run-up to fires, an “automated system” is being built, which the Vietnamese government funded with a donation of $250,000, they explain. In addition, it is planned to place only two tanks in the place where the original four tanks were previously located, in order to increase the safety distance.
Havana is also banking on the “generosity” of Moscow, which has shipped various cargoes of hydrocarbons and is expanding its deals with the island. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin promised Manuel Marrero this Wednesday “the implementation of major joint projects”. in the oil field. In the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the Cuban leader blessed a new Kremlin bid to “increase oil production in Cuban fields.”
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