Venezuela tripled oil shipments to Cuba in May

Venezuela significantly increased the shipment of oil to its political ally Cuba in May, reaching 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to the 23,000 barrels from the previous month.

The figure, in fact, is much higher than the average (56,000 bpd) of 2023 and the 34,000 reported in February of this year, which has meant a relief for the island's regime, although it still experiences massive blackouts and one of the excuses is the "lack of fuel."

Reuters reported that Venezuelan oil exports recovered in May as customers of the state company PDVSA rushed to receive shipments before the resumption of U.S. sanctions on the South American country.

In April, the United States Department of the Treasury did not renew the license that allowed free exportation, but gave companies until the end of May to complete transactions, including sales of crude oil and fuel.

According to the press agency, a total of 50 vessels departed from Venezuelan waters last month with an average of 708,900 bpd of crude oil and fuel, and 614,000 tons of petrochemicals and oil byproducts, according to internal documents from PDVSA and shipping data from the financial firm LSEG.

More than a third of that total - 250,000 bpd - ended the maritime journey in Asia; the United States was the second largest recipient, with an average of 205,000 through Chevron, and Europe received 129,000.

The volume of oil shipped in May was 30% higher than in April and 7% higher than in the same month of the previous year. In fact, exports of petrochemicals and by-products were the highest in the last 13 months.

However, uncertainty returns to prevail due to US sanctions, which could directly impact Cuba's electro-energetic situation, given the relevance of Venezuela in its oil import volumes.

Although power outages in the Caribbean nation are mainly due to lack of investment and maintenance in the electrical infrastructure, the dependence on imported fuels becomes another aspect to overcome for a government that keeps several provinces with cuts of more than 20 hours a day.

The President himself, Miguel Diaz-Canel, stated that there are no guarantees that the summer months will pass without disruptions: "Power outages will increase this month (May) and next (June) due to the rise in maintenance work at thermoelectric plants, in an effort to ensure service in July and August."

"We are going to have extended maintenance until the month of June in order to minimize the inconvenience of power outages in the summer, especially in the months of July and August," he stated in a program under his direction on Youtube.