«We are preparing the arrival of crude oil at the refineries for its treatment,» explained the deputy director of the state-owned Cuba-Petroleum (Cupet), Irenaldo Pérez Cardoso. The Russian oil tanker Anatoli Kolodkin, which docked last Tuesday in the port of Matanzas, is the first shipment of this kind to arrive on the island in the last three months, in the context of a severe energy crisis Cuba is facing due to the U.S. oil siege, which has been aggravated since last January. Cuban authorities had already announced that the unloading of the vessel would be delayed for about 96 hours and informed that «in the coming days, the process of refining the 100,000 tons will begin». Experts in the sector detailed that the refining operations will take between 15 and 20 days, and subsequently up to ten days for the distribution of the fuels obtained from the Russian crude. Cupet executives indicated that the distribution will be for liquefied gas service, diesel for distributed electricity generation, and essential economic activities. Additionally, fuel oil will be produced for power plants and gasoline to alleviate the current situation with the product demand «temporarily,» Cuban authorities noted. The Russian oil tanker, owned by the U.S.-sanctioned Sovcomflot corporation, «We will not abandon the Cubans,» reported Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsiviliev this Thursday at an energy forum held in the city of Kazan. The Caribbean country has been experiencing a severe crisis since mid-2024, which was exacerbated by the U.S. oil siege imposed by the U.S. government. The measures of the U.S. government have been qualified by the United Nations as «actions that violate human rights». The inability of Cuban authorities to meet energy demand has led to a critical point in the oil shortage, which has worsened the prolonged daily blackouts and caused an almost total paralysis of the economy, as well as impacting basic health, transport, and other services. Cuba needs about 100,000 barrels daily to meet its energy needs, of which about 40,000 come from its national production. The unloading operations of the 730,000 barrels of crude, equivalent to 100,000 tons, that the Russian oil tanker Anatoli Kolodkin brought to Cuba this week, concluded this Saturday at the supertanker base of Matanzas Bay, in western Cuba. «It was a successful unloading process (...) and although these 100,000 tons are not the definitive solution, they do alleviate the country's energy situation. Now the second one is being loaded.»
