Pemex workers and service providers at the entrance to the Port of Ciudad del Carmen.
Photographer: César Rodríguez/Bloomberg
Oil Rig Workers Ration Tortillas as Pemex Racks Up Unpaid Bills
Mexico’s state oil company owes its suppliers billions, and one seaside oil town is paying the price.
Petroleos Mexicanos’ deepening financial crisis is visible in every corner of seaside Ciudad del Carmen.
Here, the ferries that shuttle workers to oil rigs in the nearby Gulf of Mexico periodically halt service due to nonpayment. The Hotel Llirre, which exclusively houses oil workers, sits mostly empty. And on the production platforms where workers are sequestered for 14-day shifts, suppliers are rationing tortillas and serving nothing but beans as the state oil company racks up unpaid bills.