Mexico avoids giving details about oil shipments to Cuba

Oil tankers traveling from Mexico to Cuba have captured the world’s attention in the last month. Following the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and its takeover of the country’s energy sector, Mexico became the de facto largest supplier of hydrocarbons to the island. While Mexico has been doing this since 1993, as of 2024 these shipments have been carried out diligently as humanitarian aid in response to the island’s energy crisis. Recent criticisms of these shipments by some U.S. members of congress have complicated the Mexican government’s position. President Claudia Sheinbaum has offered some explanations, but the state-owned oil company, Pemex, has not provided a clear picture of the ships departing from its terminal in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, bound for Cuba.

Sheinbaum has been arguing for weeks that the oil shipments are of two types: humanitarian aid and contracts signed by Pemex with the Cuban regime. This Wednesday, the president elaborated on this narrative in response to reports that Mexico’s state-owned oil company has suspended its crude oil shipment schedule to Cuba. She attempted to separate business dealings from emergency aid. “The humanitarian aid will continue, as it does to other countries. Mexico has always shown solidarity with the entire world. They are sovereign decisions,” she commented at her morning press conference. By making this distinction, the president has raised further questions about the Mexican crude oil being shipped to the island.

The Bank of Mexico has recorded shipments of oil exported to Cuba by Pemex — Mexico’s sole oil supplier — since 1993. Since then, these shipments have been modest, representing a very marginal figure in the Mexican state’s accounts. That is, until October 2024. At that time, Cuba had been facing an energy crisis for four months, despite receiving supplies from Venezuela. A month later, in November 2024, Hurricane Rafael devastated the island, and from then on, Mexico’s shipments became increasingly generous. Sheinbaum has since characterized the oil shipments as humanitarian aid.

For its part, Pemex reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that since July 2023 it has been shipping various hydrocarbons to Cuba through its subsidiary, Gasolinas del Bienestar. The state-owned oil company estimated in its latest report — published in December — that, through this model, Mexico exported 17,200 barrels of crude oil per day in the first nine months of 2025, representing 3.3% of its total exports. The document consistently states that this is a sale, with contracts denominated in Mexican pesos, at market prices, and in accordance with the law. Sheinbaum has promised that Pemex will provide an account of its activities next week. The figure for Mexico’s oil donations to Cuba remains unknown.

Some private energy firms have been monitoring ships leaving Mexico and estimate that each vessel departing from Veracruz carries approximately 80,000 barrels of hydrocarbons. The latest recorded shipments are insufficient to meet the island’s needs. Cuba requires between 60,000 and 80,000 barrels per day, and in recent weeks has lost the 35,000 barrels that the Venezuelan government guaranteed daily. Blackouts have multiplied across the country, and fuel prices on the black market have risen significantly. “Cuba is a nation that is very close to collapse,” Trump declared Wednesday, in the same week that it was revealed Pemex has suspended its shipments to Havana. Sheinbaum has insisted that these barrels are part of the oil company’s contracts with the Cuban government.

Pressure from Washington to halt Mexican oil tankers bound for Cuba has been spearheaded by Congressman Carlos Giménez, a Republican from Florida’s Cuban diaspora, who has alerted the State Department about the shipments. Giménez has launched a campaign targeting one of Mexico’s weaknesses: the USMCA. He has proposed that the review of the trade agreement, scheduled for this year, be contingent on Mexico City promising to cease all hydrocarbon shipments to Havana. In response to Sheinbaum’s explanations, the congressman has doubled down. “It seems like she values more her relationship with dictator Diaz-Canel than her commercial relationship with the U.S. This big betrayal won’t be tolerated. Let her be very aware of it upon the negotiation of the free trade agreement.” The congressman is prepared to personally pressure the Mexican government and has announced that he will visit Mexico City next week and seek a meeting with Sheinbaum. In a video posted on his social media, he warned: “I am going to ask you to stop these oil shipments to Cuba, because you are maintaining a regime that is not legitimate and that has not had elections in more than 65 years.”

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