Fuel tanker Universal diverts course from Cuba, tracking data shows

A tanker carrying some 300,000 barrels of fuel that was originally bound for Cuba has diverted course away from the Caribbean, LSEG vessel monitoring data showed on Wednesday.



The tanker, called Universal, was loaded at a Russian port.



Cuba is struggling to keep the lights on and provide much-needed fuel for vehicles almost two months after its last oil import, onboard a Russia-flagged tanker, arrived in a Cuban port in late March.



The U.S. cut off Venezuela's oil exports to Cuba after toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap punishing tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba.