Leading Wall Street Banks Help Pemex to Pay Outstanding Bills to SLB

Legendary Wall Street firms Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG have provided financing to Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, to help pay outstanding bills to the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB). In effect, SLB has effectively guaranteed against a Pemex default on the loan by issuing more than $1 billion of credit-default swaps to the two banks.

U.S.-based SLB disclosed the swaps in US federal filings--$550 million in July and $560 million in January--but did not disclose the names of the…