Camilo Cienfuegos refinery

The Camilo Cienfuegos refinery is Cuba's largest petroleum processing facility, located in the Cienfuegos province on the island's southern coast. It has a design capacity of approximately 65,000 Barrels Per Day but has operated well below that level for years due to maintenance backlogs, feedstock shortages, and equipment deterioration. The refinery was originally built with Soviet assistance in the 1980s and was partially modernised with Venezuelan investment in the 2000s under the ALBA energy cooperation framework. It is operated by CUPET (Cuba Petroleum), the state oil company. The facility is the primary source of refined fuel for Cuba's electricity generators, road transport, and industrial base; prolonged outages directly translate into grid deficits and blackouts across the island.

In April 2026, the refinery restarted after receiving Russian crude delivered by the Sovcomflot tanker Universal under OFAC General Licence 134B. Cuba's Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced that the restart cut the National Grid deficit from 1,732 MW to 1,395 MW within days. The refinery's operational status has become the single most watched indicator of Cuba's energy trajectory: each restart or shutdown determines whether the island's fragile grid can hold or collapses into 20-hour blackouts. The April restart was partial; the refinery was not operating at full capacity.