An oil tanker with cargo enters a Cuban port in the midst of the United States’ energy blockade of the island

This is the Nicos IV ship, with IMO identification code 9103843, flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 183 meters in length. Although it arrived partially loaded (it has capacity for more than 300,000 barrels), the type and amount of fuel it carries is unknown.

If it came from a port outside of Cuba, it would be the first tanker to dock on the island since the Ocean Mariner on January 9, which entered from Mexico with some 85,000 barrels.

Ship tracking platforms did not have the Nicos IV registered in a Cuban port in recent weeks, although it is possible that the ship was operating in the island’s waters without disclosing its position.

Nicos IV is not sanctioned by the United States, but it does have the status of “active surveillance” for a previous environmental crime and for having been linked in the past to the so-called “energy bridge” between Venezuela and Cuba.

According to recent US legal documents, this tanker belongs to the Greek shipping company Nicos I.V. Special Maritime Enterprisesa single-purpose company for the control of this ship, although its technical and commercial management is in charge of the Greek company Oceanic Shipmanagement Corp.

On the western shore of Matanzas Bay is one of Cuba’s strategic energy logistics complexes, with a large supertanker base – the one with the greatest capacity – and the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, one of the largest on the island.

That is the supertanker base that suffered a serious fire in August 2022, the largest industrial disaster in the country’s recent history, which claimed the lives of 17 people and damaged four of its eight tanks, each measuring 50,000 cubic meters. Currently, work continues on the recovery work.

oil blockade

The United States has established an oil blockade on Cuba since January by closing the tap of Venezuelan oil and subsequently announcing by executive order tariffs for countries that supply crude oil to the island.

In recent days, Mexico has sent humanitarian aid to the island and Russia has announced that it is studying sending oil, although it has preferred not to give details in order to preserve the operation.

Cuba barely produces a third of the around 110,000 barrels of oil per day required. The consequence of the oil siege is greater blackouts, lack of fuel at gas stations and growing problems in multiple sectors due to the transversality of the energy factor.

The Cuban Government has implemented a very tough emergency plan that has left health and transportation at minimum services, ended in-person classes at the university, established teleworking and restricted hours in state offices, and severely rationed fuel.