Cuba's oil supplies seen lasting 15-20 days as shipments dry up - report

[Oil refinery tower and smoke pollution in Old Havana, Cuba]
Sophie Shoults/iStock via Getty Images

Cuba has enough oil to only last 15-20 days at current levels of demand and domestic production as its sole remaining supplier Mexico appeared to cancel a shipment to the island, the _Financial Times _reported, citing data firm Kpler.

Oil accounts for most of the electricity generation in Cuba, which is already facing frequent power blackouts. Cuba received 84,900 barrels this year from a single Mexican shipment on Jan. 9.

If the shipment is added to an estimated 460,000 barrels held in inventories at the start of the year, "we can say that Cuba can run for 15-20 days," said [https://www.ft.com/content/f15ac8c6-c76b-40a1-bb41-95abbed7d8aa] Victoria Grabenwöger, crude research analyst at Kpler.

President Donald Trump has vowed to choke off Cuba's oil supplies. After the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Mexico has emerged as the top oil supplier for the island.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday did not deny halting oil shipments to Cuba, saying, "It is a sovereign decision and it is made in the moment when necessary."

But on Wednesday, she clarified that she never said whether oil shipments to Cuba had been suspended or not. "Humanitarian aid to Cuba, as to other countries, continues," she said, which includes oil shipments.

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