An oil tanker that has transported Venezuelan fuel to Cuba since April 2025 finished loading this week a 150,000-barrel cargo of gasoline, a shipping schedule seen by Reuters on Thursday showed, a possible sign that the OPEC country could be preparing to send supplies to the island under US supervision.
As of Thursday, it was not clear yet if the vessel had left Venezuela as it was last spotted by monitoring service TankerTrackers.com in Venezuelan waters on Monday.
Reuters could not confirm the tanker’s ultimate destination. Any ship now leaving Venezuelan waters can do so only with US approval due to continued US military presence in the Caribbean and the US control of Venezuela’s oil exports since it captured President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Venezuela had been Cuba’s largest oil supplier for 25 years until December, when the US oil blockade on the country interrupted shipments, leaving the island with very few options to keep lights on and secure fuel for vehicles.
Mexico, a smaller oil provider to Cuba, sent a fuel cargo in January, but has not supplied anything else since, according to ship monitoring services.
