Trouble in Cuba may soon have an impact at Sherritt International’s Fort Saskatchewan nickel refinery.

Sherritt officials have announced that they expect to pause operations at their min at Moa, Cuba, this week due to lack of fuel.

“The Corporation has received notification that planned fuel deliveries for Moa will not be fulfilled and the timeline for resumption of deliveries is unknown at this time,” officials announced Tuesday, Feb. 17.

“There is no immediate impact on operations in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta,” officials added. “The refinery is continuing to produce finished nickel and cobalt for sale. the inventory of feed it has available for such production is expected to last until approximately mid-April.”

The United States have been intercepting oil shipments to Cuba and threatening countries that supply oil to Cuba with tariffs. This has recently resulted in a complete end to oil shipments to Cuba.

Cuba has some of its own oil and natural gas wells. Its natural gas supplies about 10 per cent of the electricity it needs through a power plant build, like the mine at Moa, as a joint venture projects with Sherritt International.