Brent crossed $63 per barrel on Monday after the United States said Cuba will stop receiving crude oil from Venezuela and uncertainties over the Federal Reserve policy outlook.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said no more Venezuelan oil or money will go to Cuba and suggested the Communist-run island should strike a deal with Washington.
But Cuban leader, Diaz-Canel said his country is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. “No one dictates what we do,” he added.
Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but no cargoes have departed from Venezuelan ports to the Caribbean country since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces in early January amid a strict U.S. oil blockade on the OPEC country, shipping data shows.
Brent crude traded at $63.15 per barrel, up 0.6 per cent from last Friday’s close of $62.74. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $59.04 per barrel, up around 0.7 per cent compared with $58.61 last week.
Prices opened higher over the expectations of Fed interest rate cuts, which weakened the dollar, lending support to commodity prices, while comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell added to market uncertainty.
Powell said the US Department of Justice had threatened criminal charges related to the renovation of Fed buildings, a move he said was linked to the central bank’s monetary policy decisions. Meanwhile, US actions involving Venezuela and Cuba also lifted oil prices by heightening perceptions of risk to global oil supply.
Markets remain focused on developments in Venezuela after a US military operation on January 3 resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The operation has raised concerns over potential disruptions to oil production and exports from the South American country.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday posted a picture of himself as the “acting president of Venezuela” on his social media platform Truth Social, days after the operation. Trump said his administration would oversee Venezuela and its oil assets during a transition period.
Trump said his administration would run Venezuela and its oil assets during a transition period.
Trump also criticized ExxonMobil after the company’s CEO described Venezuela as “uninvestable,” suggesting the oil giant could be excluded from future US-backed involvement in the country.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was dissatisfied with ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods’ response to calls for US energy companies to invest in Venezuela.
“I didn’t like Exxon response,” Trump said, referring to Woods’ comment during a Friday meeting where the president hosted the executives of several oil and gas companies at the White House to discuss investment opportunities in the South American country.
Diaz-Canel said Havana does not threaten others but remains prepared to defend itself “to the last drop of blood” after “it has been attacked by the US for 66 years.”
Cuba’s leader has pushed back on Donald Trump’s demand that the Caribbean nation “make a deal” with Washington, as the US president warned that Havana would be cut off from the Venezuelan oil and money that it’s relied on for decades.
“No one dictates what we do,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Sunday on X, responding to Trump’s insistence that the communist nation do a deal “before it’s too late.”
Cuba has long received massive aid packages from oil-rich Venezuela, but the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro during a US operation, and Trump’s announcement that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, is expected to leave Havana with an economic challenge.
“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
The Cuban government has said 32 of its citizens were killed “in combat actions” during the US operation to capture Maduro.
Díaz-Canel was quick to reject external interference in Cuba’s affairs.
“Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood,” said Díaz-Canel.
In an apparent reference to Trump, he said those who turn everything into a business, “even human lives,” have no moral authority to point fingers at his country.
Earlier, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez asserted the country’s “absolute right” to import fuel from economic partners without US interference and rejected Trump’s claim that Cuba exchanged security services for Venezuelan oil and money.
“The US is behaving like a criminal and uncontrolled hegemon that threatens peace and security not only of Cuba and this hemisphere but of the entire world,” Rodriguez said.
