The Mexican government will begin charging for the crude oil it has been donating to Cuba to alleviate the pressure that "humanitarian aid" to the island represents on its public finances.
The State-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) said it is evaluating forms of start collecting oil which until now has been donating to Cuba, as the company faces its own "tax struggles" and the price of barrels increases drastically.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, stressed in an interview during her presence at the United Nations General Assembly that the Government is looking for ways to alleviate that pressure, she cited Bloomberg.
In June, the country sent 350,000 barrels of crude oil free of charge Mexican Oil to Cuba and the following month another 700,000 barrels, which marked its first exports to the island since 2019, information from the port authority and ship movements tracked by Bloomberg.
The official explained that now a barrel of crude oil is approaching $100 dollars, an increase of 25% in three months, and that Mexico faces its greatest fiscal deficit in more than three decades.
The Government is studying the possibility of selling Pemex crude oil to Cuba instead of donating it, although this possibility will not be easy either due to US sanctions, he clarified. He added in this regard that the donations were made through the nation's International Development Cooperation Agency.
It recently emerged that Mexico diverted crude oil to Cuba. The shipment of the 350 thousand barrels of crude oil sent to the island in June was done without complying with the corresponding legal regulations, revealed Mexican journalist Gerardo Enríquez Aburto.
Pemex unloaded the fuel on the Delsa ship, flying the Cuban flag and docking at dock 6 of the Pájaritos Logistics Terminal, located in Coatzacoalcos; but the shipment was acquired and invoiced to the company "Gasolinas del Bienestar S.A. de C.V.", based at Marina Nacional 329, Pemex Central building, in Mexico City, when in reality The final destination of this diverted crude oil was Havana.
Likewise, in August the delivery of two million barrels in the last four months to the Caribbean nation, with which Mexico surpassed Russia as a supplier of oil to Cuba.
According to a news agency account Reuters, Based on the tracking of oil tankers, Mexico has sent oil to the island on a ship owned by the state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and ships managed by Havana.
It states that in total, Mexico has supplied Cuba since April with about 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Olmeca light crude, which is better suited to the island's aging refineries than Venezuela's heavy oil.
The regime has intensified the search for oil through its allies, to alleviate fuel shortages, replenish stocks and reduce dependence on its traditional and largest supplier, Venezuela, which, like Havana, faces sanctions from Washington.
Venezuela in recent years has struggled to produce enough fuel for domestic needs, reducing what it could export in order to ensure the South American nation's internal stability.
What do you think?
SEE COMMENTS (7)Filed in: