Mexico's Pemex will supply $496 million worth of oil to Cuba by 2025

Mexico's Pemex provided crude oil and petroleum products worth $496m to Cuba in 2025, through a contract that was effective since 2023.

The shipments of oil to Cuba has increased tension between Mexico and the U.S. after U.S. president Donald Trump warned last week that he would impose a tariff on countries who sell oil to this Caribbean island.

"We only have one contract. It's from 2023. That's the most recent. It's just a regular commercial contract like those we have with other nations," Rodriguez said. He was speaking with?Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum.

Rodriguez said the contract is open-ended, and that the supply would be based both on Cuba's requirements and the product availability in Mexico. He added it was stable and Cuba had not yet paid.

Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference that Mexico has "an open line of credit" with Cuba and that humanitarian oil shipments to the island far exceed commercial obligations.

She said, "The United States will impose tariffs against any country that sells goods to Cuba. We are therefore exploring all diplomatic avenues in order to solve this problem because we do not want it to impact Mexico."

Mexico is now the main oil supplier to the island after the U.S. banned Venezuelan tankers last December.

Pemex has its own figures showing that it exported 17,200 barrels of crude oil per day and 2,000 barrels of refined petroleum products to Cuba in the last year, up until September 2025.

Rodriguez responded that Mexico will continue to export these products as long as they are available, but added that Mexican exports in general were decreasing as more is being refined locally.

Mexico has made significant investments in improving its domestic refineries. The new Olmeca Refinery at the port of Dos Bocas will be refining even more.

Rodriguez stated that the refinery process was very demanding, so we had to cancel some contracts. We will be reducing export contracts starting in March next year.

He added that Mexico's goal at the moment is to refine 1,2 million barrels per day (bpd) domestically. Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, Raul Cortes and Chris Reese; editing by Chris Reese

(source: Reuters)