Russian oil tanker headed for Cuba despite the US embargo

Russia has decided to defy Washington’s oil embargo against Cuba, which has not received a single drop of fuel since January. Moscow has sent a ship carrying up to 200,000 barrels of diesel to the island, as confirmed by EL PAÍS on Wednesday. The tanker Sea Horse is heading to the western coast of the Caribbean nation and is expected to arrive this weekend or Monday. The shipment is significant. This is the type of fuel Havana uses to power the generators scattered throughout the country, which account for 40% of its energy mix. It is also used for transportation and agriculture, sectors virtually paralyzed by the U.S. embargo.

The vessel is located approximately 1,146 nautical miles (1,318 miles) off the northern coast of Cuba, traveling at a speed of 9.9 knots (11.4 mph), according to the naval monitoring tool Vessel Finder. The Hong Kong-flagged ship resumed its journey toward the island, according to Marine Traffic tracking data, after being held up in the Atlantic for three weeks.

Meanwhile, various international media outlets have reported that the Anatoly Kolodkin, carrying 700,000 barrels of crude oil, departed from the Russian coast of Primorsk and was en route to Cuba. However, maritime data places it off course for Cuba. The vessel is sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Adding to the tension amid the U.S. energy and tariff blockade, which has cut off hydrocarbon shipments to the socialist country, two U.S.-flagged vessels, one of them identified as part of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCGC), were near the coast of Holguín, in the east of the island, according to the tracker.

According to calculations by Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas Energy Institute, the diesel sent by Russia could only satisfy national consumption for 10 days. But he also added a caveat: “We must remember that inventories are empty.” In an interview with EL PAÍS in mid-February, the expert warned that “if a tanker doesn’t arrive in Cuba by March,” the island would reach “zero hour.” The last oil tanker to dock on the island’s shores was the Ocean Mariner last January, carrying 86,000 barrels of fuel exported by Mexico.

Cuba has received a few very small shipments. According to Reuters, two small vessels have entered the island’s waters so far this year. One came from Mexico, loaded with fuel and unloaded in Havana. The second, from Jamaica, carried domestic gas. Constrained by the economic strangulation imposed by Washington, the Cuban government has allowed small private companies to import their own fuel. These companies reportedly began receiving fuel shipments in mid-February, according to the EFE news agency.

A balm for blackouts

“Diesel is the number one product, the most important one, needed not only by Cuba but by any developing country. I think they [the government] are going to use it in the sectors that urgently need it. This is pure speculation, but I think they are going to supply the generator sets to improve the problem of blackouts,” Piñón maintains in a telephone interview.

The deployment of the Sea Horse is Russia’s most significant gesture toward the island since the United States threatened in late January to impose tariffs on countries that supply fuel to Havana. In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized Washington for its “recent pressure” on the “island of freedom,” referring to recent remarks by Donald Trump. The U.S. president talked on Monday about “taking” the country.

Cuba has historically relied on oil imports to meet its daily energy needs. The Caribbean nation can only satisfy about a third of its domestic demand on its own. The island’s chronic electricity crisis has worsened in recent weeks, exacerbated by the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the threat of U.S. tariffs on countries that supply Cuba with oil.

The country is still slowly recovering from Monday’s collapse of its National Electric System (SEN). This was the sixth such outage in the last 18 months. The state-owned power company reported Wednesday morning that at peak demand, nearly half the country will remain without power due to the generation deficit.

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