Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has begun using tankers that manipulate radar data to supply its closest political ally, Cuba, as the fleet of government ships that historically covered the route has dwindled, according to documents and ship data monitoring services.
For more than a decade, Cuba and its main oil supplier, Venezuela, have used their own tankers exclusively to sail between the two countries.
However, ship maintenance delays have put some ships out of service, and Mexico's emergence as a new supplier to Cuba, using some of the same ships, has led to the two countries revamping routes to bring much-needed crude oil and fuel to the island.
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A large portion of the tanker fleets owned by Venezuela and Cuba are subject to US sanctions, which also limits their travel. Dark Fleet ships, operated by third parties, often lack Western insurance and send out false location signals to disguise their movement.
In June, the NNPC began loading ships with crude oil and fuel to land part of it in Cuban waters, and from there depart to destinations in Asia to unload the remaining amount, according to the company's shipping documents.
The ships mimic their signals, making them appear to be somewhere else in the Caribbean as they unload their cargo in Cuba, often through ship-to-ship transfers, according to tracking service TankerTrackers.com and a satellite image from Planet Labs seen by Reuters.
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The PDVSA and the Foreign Ministries of Venezuela and Cuba did not provide comment. It was not immediately clear whether the use of third-party ships to supply Cuba was temporary.
The secret assistance comes as demand for electricity produced by oil-fired plants increases during Cuba's hot summer.
Cuba's occasional power outages have become routine because imported supplies are limited and logistical problems complicate local distribution of fuel to aging power plants.
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