Mexico Flooding Impacts Oil Industry

Although onshore oil fields in and around flood-ravaged Tabasco state escaped major damage, some of the people working at those wells have been left in the lurch. Many oil workers are based in the flooded state capital of Villahermosa and have lost their homes. Meanwhile, flooded streets and washed-out roads makes getting to and from the oil fields a logistical nightmare. Although heavy storms and high seas forced Mexico to shut down some offshore wells last week, halting about one-fifth of its daily crude production for five days, onshore operations appear to have dodged a bullet. Most of the inland wells in Tabasco state are located to the north of flood-damaged Villahermosa, on relatively dry ground. Most of Mexico's 3 million barrels in daily oil production come from offshore wells. Onshore production in Tabasco and neighboring Veracruz and Chiapas states amounts to about 471,000 barrels per day, or about 16 percent of the country's daily output. Some of the thousands of Villahermosa residents who were flooded out of their homes work for Pemex in jobs ranging from top executives to janitors at the company's southern regional headquarters located downtown. [Source: http://www.chron.com]