Campeche, Bay

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.