A Florida-based energy company has reached a deal with Cuban authorities to lease government fuel storage facilities and supply gasoline and diesel to Cuba's private sector and humanitarian organizations, in what could become the largest U.S. fuel shipment to the island in decades amid Cuba's worsening energy crisis.
Coral Gables-based Vanguard Energy plans to send roughly 250,000 barrels of diesel and gasoline to Cuba every month or 40 days under an agreement signed with Cuba's state fuel company CUPET.
The deal, reported by Bloomberg, follows a February decision by the Trump administration authorizing fuel exports to Cuba for "private sector economic activities and those sold directly to individuals for personal or family use" without requiring a specific U.S. government license.
Until now, Vanguard had been exporting smaller amounts of fuel to Cuba using ISO tanks, a process the company described as costly and inefficient. Under the new arrangement, fuel would instead arrive on oil tankers and remain under the ownership and supervision of the U.S. company while stored on the island.
"This isn't a deal where we're giving it to CUPET," Augusto Maxwell, a lawyer involved in the negotiations, told the Miami Herald. "It is actually establishing a physical presence on the island, where a U.S. person, subject to U.S. law, has the right to inspect the fuel."
Vanguard said sales would be limited to vetted private businesses, embassies, religious organizations and humanitarian groups, including the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The company said payments would bypass Cuba's banking system and that safeguards were included to prevent fuel diversion to sanctioned Cuban government entities.
The agreement comes as Cuba faces one of its most severe fuel shortages in years. The island produces only about 40% of the fuel it consumes and has struggled to secure imports after Venezuela halted subsidized oil shipments and Mexico suspended deliveries amid concerns over U.S. sanctions and tariffs.
Cuban authorities have blamed the crisis on what President Miguel Díaz-Canel has described as a U.S. "energy blockade." The shortages have contributed to blackouts lasting up to 20 hours in parts of the country and disruptions to transportation, water distribution and other essential services.
According to Bloomberg, the Vanguard shipment would mark the biggest fuel export from the United States to Cuba since the start of the U.S. embargo more than six decades ago if the operation proceeds as planned.
Energy analyst Jorge Piñón of the University of Texas told the Miami Herald the arrangement could serve as a test case for future private-sector fuel distribution in Cuba, while also providing operational experience for any future transition in the island's energy market.
