TIJUANA – The diesel crisis started to ease Sunday as gasoline tankers began to distribute a limited supply to some stations in the southern and eastern sections of the city.

Some stations near the two border crossings, however, remained without diesel yesterday.

The diesel lasted four or five hours at the stations in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach that did receive shipments, and sales were being limited to $100 per customer.

Pemex normally supplies diesel to Tecate, Ensenada and Mexicali by pipeline. Yesterday, the oil company was sending some by tanker in an effort to keep transportation moving in key areas around the state.

Workers at the Pemex plant estimated that it would be at least Monday before diesel arrived by pipeline to Ensenada, and Tuesday before it arrived in Mexicali, two cities that also experienced shortages.

A station two blocks from the Otay Mesa border crossing, which sold diesel last week only to established customers, began to sell Sunday to all motorists, but limited each sale to $100 maximum.

“Pemex continues to ration sales, but they told us that things would return to normal this week,” said Heriberto Lopez, the station's manager.

Other stations, like one on Aeropuerto Boulevard, and three on Insurgentes Boulevard, on the way to Tecate, still did not have diesel by yesterday afternoon.

Trucks that had been stranded in that area waiting for diesel, some for up to three days, had disappeared by yesteday, however. In fact, the suffocating heat, combined with a day of rest, resulted in lighter traffic around the city.

“It's been calm today. Few truck drivers work on Sunday; that's why we still have diesel left,” said Juan Jose Garcia, the shift manager at a station in Rosarito Beach.

Workers at the Pemex plant in Rosarito Beach began to distribute diesel early Sunday morning to the more than 70 tankers brought there from across Baja California to help distribute the fuel.

But the process of unloading fuel from a ship and distributing it is slow. It may be at least Wednesday before all back orders from the stations would be filled, drivers and gas station workers estimated.

“I got here this morning and if I'm lucky they will fill my tank around 6 in the afternoon. Then it's one hour or more to Ensenada,” said Israel Gonzalez, 38, a driver for the company Servicios Rudametkin.

The diesel shortage led to a transportation crisis in the latter half of last week, as truck and bus drivers across the state cancelled or reduced their trips.

Gasoline is heavily subsidized in Mexico, with prices there about 45 to 55 percent lower than in the United States. Regular unleaded (87 octane) sells for $2.54 a gallon, premium (91 octane) $3.20 and diesel $2.20.

Motorists from California began to buy gasoline, particularly diesel, in record amounts in Tijuana, creating a spot shortage that spread across Baja California in the last 11 days.

Though the diesel shortage shows signs of easing, Pemex will have to grapple with the larger question of how to maintain a sufficient supply in urban centers like Tijuana at a time when just across ther border prices continue their meteoric climb.

Omar Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language paper.