Sheinbaum Says Mexico Will Remain Key Fuel Supplier to Cuba As Venezuela Exports Decline
Mexico will continue to send crude oil and gasoline to Cuba, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday, after Venezuelan energy exports to the island nation were curtailed by U.S. sanctions and actions and may be halted.
“Clearly, given Venezuela’s current situation, Mexico has become an important supplier, but this is part of what has historically been sent,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press briefing after being asked about a Monday report by the Financial Times that said Mexico surpassed Venezuela as Cuba top oil supplier in 2025.
The newspaper said Venezuela shipped more than 9,000 b/d to Cuba last year, while Mexico supplied more than 12,000 b/d, based on data from analytics firm Kpler.
But Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company said in a December filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it exported an average of 17,200 b/d of crude oil and 2,000 b/d of “petroleum products” to Cuba over the first nine months of last year through its Gasolinas Bienestar subsidiary.
The company said sales to Cuba 3.3% of its total oil exports and 1.8% of the company’s petroleum product exports. Pemex said exports to Cuba over the nine-month period were valued at 7.9 billion pesos ($400 million), adding that internal procedures were in place to ensure the sales complied with applicable laws.
Sheinbaum said she had asked Pemex to provide historical data on fuel shipments to Cuba, but stressed that her administration hasn’t increased volumes beyond what Mexico has “historically” sent to Cuba.
“For many years, oil has been sent to Cuba for different reasons, some under contracts, others as humanitarian aid. Even during the Peña Nieto administration, a debt was forgiven,” she said, referring to Mexico’s 2013 decision to cancel 70% of a $487 million debt owed by Cuba.
Gonzalo Monroy, managing director at Mexico City–based energy consulting firm GMEC said Mexico’s oil shipments to Cuba should not be viewed as unusual, even in the context of Venezuela’s turmoil.
“Pemex records these shipments as accounts receivable, so it remains a standard commercial operation,” he said. “We’ll see later whether the Mexican government allows that debt to grow until it becomes unpayable, that has / that is when it would effectively turn into a donation.”
Monroy added continued exports to Cuba from Mexico could be threatened if Mexico faces crude supply constraints for its domestic refining system, particularly as Pemex ramps up operations at its 340,000 b/d Dos Bocas refinery. The facility is expected to increase output significantly by 2027 from the current reported production of 206,000 b/d, he said.
“As long as Pemex doesn’t use sanctioned individuals, entities, or infrastructure, such as vessels on the [U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control] sanctions list, it is carrying out a normal commercial operation,” Monroy said of the exports to Cuba.
Chris Kennedy, lead for economic statecraft at Bloomberg Economics, said in a Tuesday webinar that Cuba was in a “really difficult position,” adding that the country not only relied on Venezuela for energy needs, but used some of the oil to generate hard currency.
Jimena Zúñiga, a Latin America geoeconomics analyst at Bloomberg, rejected the idea that Mexico is seeking to provoke Washington through its oil support for Cuba.
“Claudia Sheinbaum will stay far…from doing anything that could complicate Mexico’s very strong and valuable bilateral relationship with the United States,” she said in the webinar.
Reporting by José Luis Adriano, jadriano@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeffrey Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com