In a muggy cafe near the boardwalk of Mexico’s Ciudad del Carmen, a ship company manager unlocks his phone to show a list of 26 firms owed money by the state-owned oil company. The screenshot was followed by a WhatsApp message: “I can help them get paid, in case you know of any who are interested.”
Amy Stillman
(Bloomberg) — In a muggy cafe near the boardwalk of Mexico’s Ciudad del Carmen, a ship company manager unlocks his phone to show a list of 26 firms owed money by the state-owned oil company. The screenshot was followed by a WhatsApp message: “I can help them get paid, in case you know of any who are interested.”
Petroleos Mexicanos is the world’s most indebted oil producer. It owed contractors almost $15 billion at the end of March — a sum that’s more than doubled in four years — and suppliers say Pemex is taking as long as six months to cover the bills, leaving some service providers struggling to stay afloat.
That delay has spawned a shadow industry of people who claim they can speed up payments. In some cases, they’re offering bribes to Pemex employees to make that happen...
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Gasolinera a media noche con la luna de fondo. by Roberto Arcide is licensed under unsplash.com