US adds Cuban oil company to sanctions list

The US Treasury Department today targeted a subsidiary of Cuban state-owned fuel buyer Cubametales which the US says was used by Havana to circumvent previously imposed sanctions.

Treasury said Cubametales — placed on the US sanctions list in early July — used its subsidiary Corporacion Panamericana to continue importing oil and products. The Cubametales subsidiary was added to the sanctions list today after executing a contract in recent months to buy gasoline from a European company, the Treasury said. It did not name Corporacion Panamericana's foreign counterparty.

The US administration is targeting the Cuban oil companies because of Havana's continued support for Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Treasury will continue to target Cuban oil companies as a way to bring pressure on the Maduro government, deputy treasury secretary Justin Muzinich said.

A dramatic rise in crude and products deliveries to Cuba in October enabled Venezuelan state-owned PdV to boost domestic output and restart blending facilities that had halted operations because storage had reached capacity.

PdV has traditionally supplied Cuba with as much as 100,000 b/d of oil under a bilateral state agreement signed in 2000. Supplies were less than half that until the recent increase.

PdV appears to be using Cuba's storage to hold its excess oil until it can find other markets. Cuba does not seem to be reselling the oil.

Treasury's sanctions enforcement office has also targeted tankers and charterers engaged in transporting Venezuelan crude to Cuba.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guiado's team urged the US administration to take additional steps to prevent the Cuba-Venezuela oil trade, which they describe as the plundering of Venezuelan wealth. Washington and most countries in Europe and the western hemisphere recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader. But Maduro remains in control of the country.

By Haik Gugarats