Pastorita, a LPG/chemical tanker sailing under the flag of Cuba, arrives at the port of Havana on Jan. The island is reeling from a U.S.-ordered halt in oil shipments from Caracas after American troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last month.YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images
As the Trump administration’s blockade of oil supplies to Cuba pushes the country closer to a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse, one small Canadian company is uniquely exposed to the turmoil.
Sherritt International Inc., a Toronto-based mining and power production company with three decades of close ties to the Caribbean island, warned this week that its nickel and cobalt mining operations there could be forced to shut down amid the crisis.
In its fourth-quarter and year-end report released Tuesday evening, which covered the period ending Dec. 31, 2025, and so before the current crisis began, the company stated that while its Moa mine can typically obtain fuel from international suppliers to continue its operations, “there can be no assurance that it will be successful in maintaining the continuity of operations.”
The warning came in a regulatory disclosure of risks related to its Cuban operations that nearly tripled in length from the previous quarter to more than 2,800 words.
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In an earnings call on Wednesday, Peter Hancock, Sherritt’s interim chief executive officer, played down the risks from “recent geopolitical developments,” telling shareholders the company’s operations have not yet been affected.
The company did not respond to requests for an interview.
During the call Mr. Hancock said resources have historically been prioritized by Cuba for its mining industry and that Sherritt has faced a challenging operating environment throughout its 30-year Moa joint venture, which it operates with a state-owned company.
“Navigating uncertainty is nothing new for Sherritt,” he said.
Yet neither the company nor the country has faced a threat quite like the one posed by the interventionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who seems intent on toppling Cuba’s communist government.
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In January, after the U.S. captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, that country’s oil shipments to Cuba were halted, cutting the island off from its main supplier. Shortly after Mr. Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
The fuel shortages have lead to rolling blackouts, forced gasoline rationing, and caused some hospitals to suspend surgeries or close altogether.
Meanwhile Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat all suspended flights to Cuba and were in the process of repatriating travellers after the country warned it would stop refuelling commercial aircraft.
“If there’s not enough jet fuel for commercial flights and there are hospitals and other things that are more important than mining cobalt, it’s not rocket science to conclude this is a huge problem for [Sherritt] operationally,” said Ethan Garber, a distressed debt analyst and managing director of Imperial Capital in London.
The company’s business is almost entirely dependent on its Cuban assets, a bet that was first made in the early 1990s by former CEO Ian Delaney, who the Wall Street Journal once dubbed Fidel Castro’s “favourite capitalist.”
A driver refuels as others wait in a long line behind to fill up at a gas station in Havana, Cuba, Jan. 27.Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press
In addition to mining, Sherritt, through a one-third stake in state-owned Energas SA, operates power plants that draw on Cuba’s own oil and gas reserves. The company also operates a metals refinery and fertilizer business in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., though both rely on material shipped from Cuba through Halifax.
In better days, during the mid-2000s commodity boom and as U.S.-Cuba relations seemed to be thawing, that gamble paid off handsomely; in 2008 the company’s market capitalization reached nearly $5-billion.
Now Sherritt’s shares trade for pennies and its market cap has shrunk by 98 per cent to just $109-million.
“In the very long term, they’ve got very interesting assets, but in the near term it’s a pretty scary situation,” Mr. Garber said.
While the company’s latest financial report acknowledges increased geopolitical risks have “adversely impacted” Sherritt’s financial position, the company’s share price Wednesday was actually up 38 per cent to 22 cents compared with two months earlier, while there has been an uptick in interest in the company’s debt.
“There are some who are taking a longer-term more cynical view that the U.S. is going to do a Venezuela No. 2 stabilization that’s pro-business,” Mr. Garber said. “But who knows how the U.S. government would treat that given Sherritt is a Canadian company.”