A Venezuela oil tanker seized by the US has revealed a surprising connection to Cuba. The Skipper, which departed on December 4 with nearly two million barrels of heavy crude, was headed to Cuba’s Matanzas port, according to internal data from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
Two days later, it offloaded 50,000 barrels to another ship, Neptune 6, before heading east towards Asia. The move suggests that firms with ties to Cuba are gaining a larger share of Venezuelan oil exports as the island’s security agents boost President Nicolás Maduro’s defenses.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/world/americas/venezuela-cuba-oil-tanker.html