Algeria sends more oil to Cuba as Venezuelan supplies fall

But Cuba has relied almost exclusively on Venezuela, also an OPEC member, for its crude supplies through a 15-year-old assistance program that Caracas has been struggling to maintain as power cuts, lack of investment and payment delays slash its oil output. Insufficient crude imports last year – mainly from Venezuela - forced Cuba’s state-run oil company Cupet to cut operations at its 65,000-barrel-per-day Cienfuegos refinery, where Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA had a 49-percent stake until August. It only refined 24,000 bpd of crude last year, according to official numbers. More…