Dispatches of crude and combustibles to Cuba decreased between 23 and 32 per cent and the cut for the other Caribbean and Central American countries was 14.8 percent in 2013 versus 2012.
Figures for the delivery of crude and combustibles to Cuba and the other nations of PetroCaribe show that last year (2013) there was a reduction in dispatches of between 42,000 barrels per day (bbls) and 52,000 bbls.
Last year, deliveries from state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to Cuba reduced between 23 and 32 per cent versus the 104,000 bbls of 2012."We have a total of 70,000 to 80,000 bbls that we are sending to Cuba. We process it and we are attending to the Caribbean market from there," Venezuela's Petroleum and Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez said during the Venezuela-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission meeting this month on an undisclosed date. This means Cuba is getting between 24,000 and 34,000 bbls less, Ramirez said.
The reduction of deliveries to the rest of PetroCaribe was 14 per cent, which translates to between 121,000 to 103,000 bbls.The report out of Venezuela said the reduction for the most part was in the dispatch of combustibles, particularly diesel, because of the need to satisfy the domestic (Venezuelan) demand to power its thermo-electric generation plants.PDVSA delivers to the rest of the Caribbean from the Cuban refinery at Cienfuegos, Cuba. The refinery is owned 51 per cent by Cuban state-owned oil company Cupet, and 49 per cent by PDVSA. Exports that come from the company Cuvenpetrol are booked as Cuban. (Aleem Khan)