TIJUANA -- Diesel is again being sold to everyone, without limits, in all stations in this city.

After an unprecedented shortage in the region, the situation appeared to be returning to normal: public buses were running their daily schedules and stranded cargo trucks returned to the roads.

Overnight Sunday and early Monday, the Pemex plant in Rosarito Beach resupplied the city's stations, according to the associaton of station owners. Unleaded and premium gasoline continued to be readily available everywhere.

Over the weekend in Mexico City, the of director of Pemex, the national oil company, suggested that the way to avert another shortage was to limit sales to motorists from the United States.

Those comments nothwithstanding, at least ten stations close to the two border crossings were selling diesel to anyone, without limit.

Héctor Casillas, 50, an irrigation consultant who lives in Bonita, was one of the drivers who took advantage of the fresh supply of diesel.

Casillas said he had been traveling to Tijuana twice a week to fill up his double-cab pickup truck at a station near the Otay border crossing. He said he called the station last week and was told that there was a crisis and no fuel was available.

“I called this morning and they assured me that everying was normal,” he said. “I'm going to buy 300 liters (about 79 gallons) for $200.”

Last week, gasoline stations in the Otay area limited the sale of diesel to established customers, while other stations east and south of Tijuana limited sales to $100 maximum por truck driver, $20 per bus driver, which kept public transportation from grinding totally to a halt.

On Monday morning and afternoon, about dozen tankers were still in line waiting to be filled with diesel, which they were going to take to Ensenada and Mexicali.

Gas station owners say that Pemex is filling their orders, although sometimes with two to three hours' delay.

Gasoline is heavily subsidized by the Mexican government. Regular, 87-octane unleaded sells for $2.54 a gallon, 91-octane premium is $3.20 and diesel is $2.20.

California drivers, eager to escape record high prices, flocked to Tijuana to fill up their tanks. Starting June 13, Pemex was unable to meet the demand for diesel at stations nearest the border. That led to a diesel crisis that slowed and in some instances stopped public transporation and some long-haul trucking.

Omar Millán González is a contributor to The Union-Tribune's Spanish-language Enlace.