Mexico closes main oil ports due to bad weather

MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Mexico closed all of its main oil exporting ports on Sunday due to bad weather, the transport ministry said on its Web site.

The Gulf of Mexico ports of Dos Bocas, Cayo Arcas and Coatzacoalcos, which ship around 80 percent of Mexico’s daily oil exports, were shut. The Pacific port of Salina Cruz was also closed.


Mexico is the world’s No. 9 exporter of crude oil, shipping an average of 1.7 million barrels per day in 2007, and a top-three supplier to the United States.

Mexico’s exports have been repeatedly disrupted in recent months by bad weather that has halted shipments for days at a time and, in some cases, triggered the evacuation of oil rig workers.