Pemex Pays Off Billion-Dollar Debt to Carlos Slim While Dozens of Suppliers Wait for Payment

Mexico City — While dozens of suppliers continue to report payment delays stretching back years, Mexico’s state oil company Pemex has settled nearly all of its debt to the country’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

Pemex, led by CEO Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, paid off most of the more than $700 million it owed to Slim’s Grupo Carso. The confirmation came from Grupo Carso’s Chief Financial Officer Arturo Spínola García during an investor call following the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 financial results presentation.

Spínola said pre-2025 debts were “practically almost covered.”

“The most important part has already been paid, we still have some matters that will be paid in the coming days. We believe we will be able to regularize because there are still some overdue payments. Although I would tell you that the largest amount they owe us is from 2025, the old debt has almost all been paid,” he stated.

Spínola also revealed that Grupo Carso accepted a 7% discount on the oldest pending payments, which helped strengthen the company’s cash position at the close of the fiscal year.

“The Pemex discount was a one-time event, and it mainly concerned the oldest portion. So, the only effect we will see is what we already recognized in December, and this year things should proceed more regularly,” he said during the conference call.

The executive added that for new contracts, specific mechanisms have been implemented to ensure payment collection, particularly for strategic projects like Ixtachi.

“There is a mechanism to ensure collection for this contract, which is the most important one we currently have with Pemex,” he stated.

The case of Slim’s Grupo Carso contrasts with the situation facing hundreds of supplier companies. In the second quarter of 2025, during another investor call, it was reported that Pemex owed Grupo Carso more than $700 million for services ranging from drilling to comprehensive work in oil fields.

According to Spínola, the oil company had accumulated payment delays of up to two years for some invoices.

However, the problem of unpaid debts is not new. Since Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo’s presidential campaign, energy sector companies began reporting delays and expressed concern about the federal administration change, fearing obligations would go unaddressed.

In 2025, the Mexican Association of Petroleum Service Companies reported consolidated outstanding debts totaling 94 billion pesos. Of that amount, 12 billion pesos corresponded to overdue invoices; 8 billion to invoices not yet due; and 74 billion to certified estimates that had not been enabled in the Payment and Discount Coding system.

Internationally, Swiss company Sulzer Chemtech reported that Pemex owes it 528.4 million pesos for work on the National Refining System.

According to letter SULZER57-25, the company requested that Pemex CEO Rodríguez Padilla settle 40 overdue invoices, some with 15-month delays.

“The lack of payment is critically compromising our ability to continue supplying the necessary inputs and services for projects currently underway with Pemex,” the letter stated.

The Mexican Employers’ Association detailed that micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in Ciudad del Carmen, Tapachula, Hidalgo, Irapuato, Tamaulipas, Oaxaca, Reynosa, Tabasco, Tampico, and Veracruz are experiencing a critical liquidity crisis due to payment defaults.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry estimated that, just with the construction sector, Pemex accumulated debts exceeding 7 billion pesos in 2025.

The latest official Pemex figures available at the close of the third quarter of 2025 show that total debt to suppliers amounted to 517 billion pesos. Instead, the company chose to pay the country’s richest man, Carlos Slim.