A Russia-flagged tanker carrying Russian crude entered Cuba’s exclusive economic zone on Sunday, according to ship tracking data, in what could be the Caribbean country’s first oil import in over two months.
Tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, which departed from Primorsk after loading some 650,000 barrels of Urals crude, could soon discharge at Cuba’s Matanzas port if it does not change its current course, according to tracking services MarineTraffic and LSEG.
Washington has effectively blocked all oil shipments to Cuba in an attempt to pressure the government in Havana. Meanwhile, the US has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russia to help improve the flow of oil that has been restricted by the US and Israeli military strikes on Iran.
The New York Times on Sunday confirmed that the Russian tanker was headed for Cuba, citing a US official who had been briefed on the matter. The Times report said it was unclear why the Trump administration was allowing the shipment to go through.
The US-sanctioned tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was on its way to Cuba, LSEG ship-monitoring data also showed. The vessel departed from Russia’s Primorsk port carrying some 650,000 barrels of crude, though the New York Times report said it had 730,000 barrels.
In either case, that much oil would provide significant relief to Cuba, which, according to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months, leading to strict rationing of gasoline and exacerbating an energy crisis that has resulted in multiple power outages across the Caribbean island nation.
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