00:00The diversion of the oil tanker is a blow for Cuba amid a severe fuel scarcity that has triggered power
00:06blackouts in the communist-run island.
00:09According to a Reuters report, the Hong Kong-flagged vessel Seahorse loaded a diesel cargo earlier this year through a
00:16ship-to-ship transfer in the Mediterranean before setting sail to the Caribbean.
00:20The Russian-origin cargo was bound for Cuba, according to several maritime intelligence firms, but the ship had suspended course
00:28in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean since late February.
00:31According to tracking data, the tanker has changed course and is heading south to Trinidad with an estimated arrival on
00:39Monday.
00:39The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday changed the terms of a waiver it had granted to sales of Russian
00:46-origin crude and petroleum products already loaded on tankers to specifically exclude transactions involving North Korea, Cuba and Crimea.
00:55The license is part of the Trump administration's effort to tame high crude and gas prices amid the Middle East
01:01conflict.
01:02Russia's state-run TASS News Agency said this week the Russian government is in talks with Cuba about aid options
01:09without providing further details.
01:12Power blackouts are now the norm in Cuba, which has received only two tankers at its ports this year bringing
01:18oil.
01:19LSEG data showed the communist-run island needs imported fuel, oil and diesel to generate power and avoid more outages,
01:27while gasoline sales remain strictly rationed and sold on the black market for $8 per liter, six times the official
01:36price.
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