Contrary to erroneous reports, petroleum deliveries to Cuba from Venezuela still flowing

Contrary to erroneous reports, petroleum deliveries to Cuba from Venezuela still flowing

Jorge R. Piñón • June 15, 2015



AUSTIN, Texas (June 10, 2015) – Recent press and financial institutions’ reports indicate that Venezuela has substantially cut back petroleum deliveries to Cuba under the terms and conditions of the October 2000 Convenio Integral de Cooperación Venezuela-Cuba CIC barter agreement.

The context and data sources used in these reports by which they reached these conclusions are incorrect.

Yes, PDVSA has reduced the volume of Mesa 28 crude oil exported from Venezuela to Cuba; but it has been replaced by a similar volume of crude oil and petroleum products from its Caribbean transshipment terminals of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Aruba and Bullen Bay and Willemstad, Curacao.

PDVSA lacks the heavy crude oil upgrading capacity at its Jose industrial complex in Northern Venezuela necessary to convert Orinoco production into marketable light synthetic crude oil, much needed to cover its contractual commitments to China and India. As a result, PDVSA is using some of its own declining light and medium domestic crude oil production, such as Mesa 30-28 crude oil, and for the first time in its history it is also purchasing foreign crudes such as Algerian Saharan Blend and Russian Urals, as diluent and blending stock for their Orinoco heavy crude.

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