CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO — This majestic ballpark is named the Grand Stadium of Chihuahua. But it could be called the House that Pemex Built.
Oil revenue from the government-owned petroleum company financed this $12-million facility, home to the minor league Chihuahua Dorados, or Goldens. The largest of five stadiums built in this baseball-crazy northern state since 2002, it boasts luxury boxes, roomy seats and space for 20,000 fans.
But not everyone is happy with this field of dreams.
"It's too big," said longtime fan Rafael Sanchez at a game last summer that drew just a few thousand spectators. "They should have used the money to build a hospital."
Lofty oil prices have showered Mexico's treasury with a tax windfall in recent years. Last year, revenue from the nation's crude exports reached an all-time high of $34.7 billion, a 23% increase from 2005. The bonanza has spurred economic growth and helped the nation expand anti-poverty programs and beef up essential services.
It has also financed expensive gimcracks such as sports arenas and government buildings as part of the kind of spending binge not seen in decades. Public spending in Mexico nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006, vexing experts who have warned the nation to save more for a rainy day that may be fast approaching.
Mexico's heavy crude, which fetches less than the benchmark West Texas Intermediate, has plunged 31% in price since it hit an all-time high of $64.85 in August.
For Mexico, the world's No. 5 oil producer, it is sobering math. The nation relies on petroleum revenue to fund more than one-third of public spending, despite years of warnings from analysts about the need to diversify its tax base. Now, production at its main oil field is declining precipitously.
But that hasn't stopped Mexico from burning through its recent oil jackpot like a spendthrift lottery winner. Petroleum sales and oil-related taxes have generated more than $335 billion over the last six years. Officials used some of the wealth to pay off foreign debt and funnel a bit of cash into a stabilization fund, which contained just over $1.6 billion at the end of September, the latest figure available.
That's a pittance compared with Norway, which has a fraction of Mexico's population. The Scandinavian nation, the world's No. 8 oil producer, has socked away more than $240 billion of petroleum revenue into a fund earmarked for future pension benefits for its citizens.
