14ymedio, Havana, August 10, 2024 — Gasolineras Bienestar, a subsidiary of the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), sold 21,800 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to Cuba in the first quarter of this year. The amount represents an increase of 30% with respect to the 16,800 bpd that the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent to its Cuban ally between July and December 2023. The oil romance between Havana and Mexico – in the midst of the political tension of Venezuela, the island’s main supplier – will continue to be strong.
Pemex also sent 3,600 bpd of gasoline and other petroleum derivatives to Havana, which is an increase of 9% compared to last year, reports El Universal. The total value of the shipments was 200 million dollars – 3.3 billion Mexican pesos – according to a report that Pemex sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which does not welcome the growing closeness between the two countries and warned that Pemex could suffer sanctions. However, it is still not known if it is a sale, a donation or a barter in exchange for services, such as the sending of 5,000 Cuban doctors to Mexico.
Havana has enjoyed shipments of Mexican crude oil since July 2023, when the rapprochement between the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Administration of López Obrador was consolidated. According to Gonzalo Monroy, director of the energy consulting company GMEC, fuel shipments are part of a “political decision” by the Mexican Government, and the proof is that they use Gasolineras Bienestar and not PMI, the subsidiary of Pemex responsible for international trade.
The United States, Monroy believes, “ca