AKADEMIK GUBKIN

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Sanctioned Russian tanker underway to Cuba with crude oil from Ust-Luga

Russia has sent a cargo of Ural oil to Cuba on the 'Akademik Gubkin', which is on the list of ships owned by Moscow companies under US sanctions, in a challenge by the Kremlin and Havana to Washington. The tanker loaded 100,000 tons of crude oil at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on Jan 29, 2025. It then set off for Matanzas, where it is due to arrive at a supertanker base on Feb 19. The AIS does not show a destination port, something quite common for fuel shipments from Russia to Cuba. The 'Akademik Gubkin' is the first of the Russian state-owned ships on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department, in the section corresponding to Rosnefteflot, a subsidiary of the Rosneft firm. The US Government had imposed sanctions against Russian oil, covering more than 150 entities and individuals, including the main producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, insurance companies, transporters, 183 tankers and dozens of traders and senior energy officials. This, with the aim of affecting the main supply of resources for the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions put at risk around 1.5 billion barrels per day of Russia's crude oil flows from its Pacific and Arctic ports. At the start of 2025, Havana's ambassador to Russia, Julio Antonio Garmendía, assured that Moscow would sign a contract with the Cuban regime for the granting of a credit of 60 million dollars for the purchase of fuel from the Eurasian nation. To date it is unknown whether the agreement was made effective. ·