CUBA In A Dire Strait As Oil Reserves Would Last For Only 07 Days.

Havana; April 2026: Cuba needs petroleum to generate and supply electricity to its citizens. Its thermoelectrical plants, fed with fuel oil and diesel, use twice as much fuel as all other uses combined.

Insufficient crude for refining and a lack of fuel imports led to multiple grid failures in recent months, leaving the country’s 10 million people in darkness. Most Cubans, including those in the capital Havana, were seeing 16 or more hours of ​blackout daily even before the first grid collapse.

Residents across Havana lined up for water from tank trucks in March ​as the combination of fuel shortages and power ‌grid instability left thousands of taps dry. State water utility Aguas de La Habana confirmed that pumping schedules and supply operations ​had been disrupted by the lack of ​electricity.

The blackouts triggered a rally against power cuts, while food shortages began in the ‌city of Moron due to the lack of fuel for transportation. In a rare outburst of public dissent, anti-government protesters had attacked a Communist Party office in central Cuba on March 14.

What is extremely worrying is the fact that Cuban health officials have asserted that the crisis has increased the mortality ⁠risk for cancer patients, especially children.

During the late March of 2026, the United States allowed a Russia-flagged tanker to deliver some 700,000 barrels of crude to Cuba, breaking a hardened oil blockade that had left the Caribbean country without fuel for months. However, the new shipment is expected to barely provide 7-10 days of supply, or roughly through mid-April, according to official estimates and past import averages. The Russia contributes almost 25% of the total Cuban requirement.

It is noteworthy that Cuba’s energy is imports dependent. Since the island produces less than a third of the oil it requires, it relies on regular purchases of crude and fuel. Venezuela and Mexico, Cuba’s main oil suppliers, have struggled in recent years to maintain motor fuel production, leaving little spare capacity for Cuba, particularly in 2025. Cuba’s struggles to pay in cash have also limited imports. Venezuela was Cuba’s top oil supplier for more than 20 years, accepting services like doctors and government security instead of cash payment for cargoes.

Venezuela’s last shipment to Cuba was in December 2025, as on 03rd January 2026 – the United States had captured President Nicolas Maduro, and subsequently imposing a trade embargo on Venezuela ceding all fuel transactions.

In February 2026, a small shipment arrived from Jamaica. The blockade has choked off Cuba’s supplies of oil, which is the effective lifeblood of the country. Cuba’s dependence on oil is not unique in the Caribbean, but the scale of that dependence is.

Today, Cuba is in a tougher spot than its neighbours Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, which have managed to offset their petroleum needs with coal, natural gas and renewables over the past several decades, while Cuba has not done so under the longstanding U.S. trade embargo.

Cuba’s energy consumption, compared to its neighbours, remains almost wholly focused on petroleum — it easily surpasses the region’s average and is significantly more dependent than either Mexico or the U.S., which are both countries that almost match their petroleum consumption with natural gas, and round out their needs with smaller portions of coal, nuclear and renewables.

“The Americans need to let us live a little, let us breathe”, said Havana resident Ismael de la Luz, 67 years, adding further, “it was the people, not the government, suffering ​most from the blackouts and shortages. We’re in a really bad way”.

Hundreds of women marched in Cuba’s capital, Havana, to protest the de facto oil blockade and pressure campaign that the United States has imposed on the island. Banners and signs at Tuesday’s demonstration bore the slogan “Tumba el bloqueo” or “Tear down the blockade”. Many protesters waved Cuban flags, and some wore T-shirts with the hashtag #NoMasBloqueo or “No more blockade”.

Team Maverick.