Cuba tightens LPG rationing as sanctions bite

The Cuban government has tightened LPG rationing to cope with reduced imports that it blames on escalating US sanctions.

"The measures for the reduction of consumption will be applied until there is stable supply," state-owned oil company Cupet said.

The government described LPG, which is used on the island mainly for cooking, as a basic necessity when it imposed earlier LPG rationing in August 2019.

"The suppliers refused to make the planned deliveries by the end of December 2019 and the beginning of January," Cupet said, without specifying supplier names, origins or volumes.

"The volume of LPG that is being produced by the local refinery is far below demand, and with reduced imports, distribution has to be controlled," Cupet told Argus today.

Cuba's LPG production from its 65,000 b/d Cienfuegos refinery totaled 51,400 tons (1,000 b/d) in 2017, according to the latest official figures.

"Attempts since December to import LPG from other sources have not been successful, so added restrictions on consumption are needed to guarantee supplies from a limited inventory," Cupet said.

The company did not indicate the sources from which it had tried to obtain LPG.

Most of Cuba's crude and products imports are supplied by political ally Venezuela, but volumes have fallen sharply in recent years because of US sanctions on both countries and state-owned oil company PdV's declining production.

The US intensified sanctions last year by targeting shipping companies that carry Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which the US accuses of propping up Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Cuba had been importing LPG through state-owned oil trading company Corporacion Panamericana until the entity was targeted by US sanctions in November 2019.

Corporacion Panamericana had taken over responsibility for oil trading after US sanctions on Cuba's main oil trader Cubametales in July 2019 crippled its operations.

The LPG crunch is a microcosm of a broad oil shortage across Cuba, reflected in motor fuel shortages and electricity blackouts.