The journalist Bernardo Espinosa, from Canal Caribe, reported recently from the Camilo Cienfuegos Refinery that while traveling early in the morning towards that city, lighting on the roads could already be seen, a visible sign of the impact of the fuel obtained from processing the crude oil donated by Russia.
"The first distribution of crude oil in the country is already being felt as we drove this morning towards Cienfuegos. We could see from the moment we passed Aguada the road that connects Aguada with the city of Cienfuegos. The lighting everywhere is evident. Electricity is arriving with the fuel being obtained here in Cienfuegos," declared Espinosa in the noon news.
The crude oil, donated by the Federation of Russia, arrived in Cuba on March 31 aboard the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, from the Russian state shipping company Sovkomflot, with approximately 730,000 barrels —100,000 metric tons— of Ural crude.
It was the first shipment of oil that the island received in almost three months, amidst an unprecedented energy crisis in decades.
The Camilo Cienfuegos Refinery had been shut down since January 9, 2026, for more than four months without processing any crude oil.
Raúl Jaramillo Garnier, general manager of the refinery, confirmed to Espinosa that processing is carried out continuously 24 hours a day: "Since January 9, we have halted operations at the plant, and since then, we have not processed any additional crude, only this batch of 100,000 tons."
The national distribution of derivatives began on April 19, with around 150 fuel tankers departing daily from the loading dock to all regions of the country, including the Isle of Youth.
The products obtained include diesel, gasoline in three grades, fuel oil, and liquefied petroleum gas, distributed by road, rail, and maritime means.
Jaramillo Garnier acknowledged, however, that the relief is only partial: "Now, with these production levels that are insufficient, there are still limitations, but they alleviate the situation we face today in generation."
The refinery needs approximately 15 days to process the entire batch, according to the manager himself, and the Russian supply barely covers one third of the national demand for a month, according to Irenaldo Pérez Cardoso, deputy director of the Cuba-Petroleum Union.
This Tuesday, the National Electric Union forecasted a deficit of 1,012 MW during the nighttime peak, the lowest since November 2025, when it was 1,100 MW, although still far from normalcy.
The recent maximum deficit reached 1,945 MW on April 1st, with blackouts affecting up to 62% of the national territory.
The crisis has structural roots: Venezuelan crude supply was interrupted since December 2025 after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Mexico suspended its shipments on January 9, 2026 due to sanctions from Washington — which accounted for 44% of Cuban imports — and Donald Trump imposed an additional oil embargo on January 29, 2026.
Díaz-Canel himself admitted on April 16 that Cuba is absolutely lacking fuel for almost everything, with transportation, flights, and industry brought to a standstill.
Russia announced a second shipment, the vessel Universal, with 251,000 barrels of diesel, estimated to arrive on April 29.
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