Campeche, Bay of

Campeche, Bay of
Inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.

Bounded by the Yucatán Peninsula, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the southern part of the state of Veracruz, it covers about 6,000 sq mi (15,500 sq km). Major offshore oil fields were developed in the bay in the 1970s, and it became Mexico's principal oil-producing region. In 1979 an accident at an oil well there released some 3 million barrels of crude oil into the gulf; the government spent more than $100 million to bring the spill under control.

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bay, Mexico
also called  Gulf of Campeche , Spanish  Bahía de Campeche 

      bay of the Gulf of Mexico, southern Mexico. It is bounded by the Yucatán Peninsula to the east, by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the south, and by southern Veracruz to the west. The bay covers an area of about 6,000 square miles (15,540 square km) and generally cannot be entered by vessels drawing more than 9 feet (3 metres). Rivers flowing into the bay include the Papaloápan, Coatzacoalcos, Grijalva, Usumacinta, and Candelaria. Términos Lagoon and other lagoons and swamps dot the low-lying shores along the bay. Highways connect the major port cities of Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, Ciudad del Carmen, and Campeche.

      Major offshore oil wells were drilled in the bay during the 1970s, and it became the highest oil-producing region in Mexico in the early 1980s. International attention was drawn to the area in mid-1979, when the Ixtoc 1 well blew out and released an estimated 3,000,000 barrels of crude oil (oil spill) into the Gulf of Mexico, some of which washed up onto beachfronts in Texas, 600 miles (965 km) away, before the well was finally capped early the next year. The Mexican government spent an estimated $132,000,000 to bring the spill under control. An oil pipeline connects the bay area to Coatzacoalcos on the coast near the city of Minatitlán, where there are pipeline connections and a tanker terminal.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Campeche, Bay of — geographical name the SW section of Gulf of Mexico …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Campeche — /kahm pe che/, n. 1. a state in SE Mexico, on the peninsula of Yucatán. 337,000; 19,672 sq. mi. (50,950 sq. km). 2. a seaport in and the capital of this state. 69,506. 3. Gulf of, the SW part of the Gulf of Mexico. * * * I City (pop., 2000:… …   Universalium

  • Campeche — /kæmˈpeɪtʃeɪ/ (say kam paychay) noun 1. a state in south eastern Mexico on the Yucatán peninsula. 51 833 km2. Capital: Campeche. 2. Also, Gulf of Campeche. Bay of, a bay on the south western part of the Gulf of Mexico …  

  • bay — bay1 /bay/, n. 1. a body of water forming an indentation of the shoreline, larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf. 2. South Atlantic States. an arm of a swamp. 3. a recess of land, partly surrounded by hills. 4. an arm of a prairie or swamp,… …   Universalium

  • Campeche — • Diocese in the State of Campeche, Republic of Mexico, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Yucatan Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Campeche     Campeche      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • bay|wood — «BAY WUD», noun. a coarse, light kind of mahogany from the vicinity of the Gulf of Campeche, Mexico. ╂[< the Bay of Campeche] …   Useful english dictionary

  • Campeche — [kam pē′chē; ] Sp [ käm pe′che] 1. state of SE Mexico, in the W Yucatán Peninsula: 20,013 sq mi (51,833 sq km); pop. 535,000 2. capital of this state, a port on the Gulf of Campeche: pop. 174,000 3. Gulf ( or Bay) of 4. Gulf of arm of the Gulf of …   English World dictionary

  • Bay of Campeche — The Bay of Campeche ( es. Bahía de Campeche) (sometimes confused with Sonda de Campeche ) is the southern bight of the Gulf of Mexico. It is surrounded on three sides by the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz. It was named by… …   Wikipedia

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  • Bay of Campeche — noun a part of the Gulf of Mexico to the west of Yucatan • Syn: ↑Gulf of Campeche, ↑Golfo de Campeche • Instance Hypernyms: ↑gulf • Part Holonyms: ↑Mexico, ↑United Mexican States, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

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