Mexico's Pemex supplied crude oil and petroleum products to Cuba worth $496 million in 2025 through a commercial contract effective since 2023, the CEO of the state energy company, Victor Rodriguez, said on Wednesday.
The shipments to Cuba have heightened friction between Mexico and the US, after US President Donald Trump threatened last week he would impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to the Caribbean island.
"We have only one contract, it's a contract from 2023, which is the most recent contract; it's a normal commercial contract, like the ones we have with other countries," Rodriguez said, speaking alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Rodriguez added the contract was open-ended and supply was based on Cuba's needs as well as on the availability of product in Mexico, adding it had been stable and there were no outstanding payments from Cuba.
Sheinbaum, speaking during her regular morning press conference, added Mexico had "an open credit line" with Cuba and said humanitarian oil shipments to the island far outstripped commercial obligations.
"The problem we have now is that the United States is going to impose tariffs on any country that sells to Cuba, so we are exploring all diplomatic avenues to resolve this problem, because we don't want it to affect Mexico either," she said.
Mexico became the island's main supplier of oil after the US blocked Venezuelan tankers in December. Pemex's own numbers showed it shipped 17,200 barrels per day of oil and 2,000 bpd of refined petroleum products to Cuba last year through the end of September 2025.
When asked about the continuation of these exports, Rodriguez said Mexico would keep them up for as long as there was available product, though adding Mexican exports were being reduced in general as more was being refined locally.
Mexico has invested heavily in upgrading its ailing domestic refineries, and the new Olmeca Refinery in the port of Dos Bocas is refining more.
"We've already had to cancel contracts, and starting next month of March, export contracts are being reduced because our refining process is very demanding," Rodriguez said. Mexico's current goal is to refine 1.2 million bpd domestically, he added.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Raul Cortes; Editing by Chris Reese)
