Soaring prices in U.S. send drivers south

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 4, 2008

TIJUANA – The search for diesel led Daniel Rojas and his 18-wheel Freightliner from Pemex station to Pemex station one afternoon this week, but each time he heard the same stories: It hasn't arrived. We're still waiting. We've run out.

While gasoline has continued to flow, shuttered pumps and long lines have greeted diesel customers across the state of Baja California in recent days – the result of a dramatic spike in demand for low-cost Mexican diesel created by rising U.S. prices.


It boiled down this week to a delivery problem, said officials from Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.

Representatives of the government oil monopoly told state officials that they haven't been able to move trucks fast enough to deliver diesel fuel because demand is up 30 percent at some places along the border. Subsidized Mexican diesel yesterday sold for $2.17 a gallon in Tijuana, less than half of what it sells for in San Diego County. Diesel shortages have been reported this week from Mexicali, the state capital, to San Quintin, a major agricultural area south of Ensenada.

The rise in fuel sales south of the border in recent weeks has raised a politically sensitive question of whether large numbers of Californians are driving south to take advantage of Mexican government subsidies, thus depleting the supply. In a June 20 statement, Pemex said it would give preference to stations that attend to “national demand.â€