TIJUANA –
Promising an imminent end to diesel shortages that have plagued Baja California for several weeks, top officials with the Mexican government oil monopoly, Petróleos Mexicanos, have committed to step up delivery of the fuel to stations statewide.
Members of a Baja California delegation that traveled to Mexico City on Wednesday reported yesterday that the monopoly, known as Pemex, will increase deliveries by this weekend to end the problem that was caused in large measure by rising fuel prices in the United States.
Since a large delivery last month to Baja California's main Pemex storage facility in Rosarito Beach, there has been plenty of diesel, state officials say. But Pemex has not been able to transfer the fuel fast enough to gas stations statewide, resulting in shortages at the pump.
Pemex “recognized that their distribution policy has not been adequate,” said Alfredo Babún Villareal, state president of a business umbrella group, the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, and a member of the delegation.
By late yesterday, Pemex had not made an official statement confirming the agreement. But Babún said Pemex has committed to increasing deliveries by “at least 20 percent or as much as is necessary” using a formula based on 2007 consumption.
A communiqué late Wednesday from the Baja California state government said Pemex had reached an agreement with its unionized workers to “increase the number of delivery trucks in order to reduce the shortage statewide by this weekend.”
State officials say Pemex has agreed to increase deliveries to reduce the statewide shortage by this weekend.
Gas station owners in Tijuana said yesterday it will probably take longer than that. “It would have to be within 30 days,” said Joaquín Aviña, president of the Association of Gas Station Owners of Tijuana, which represents 116 stations.
Heavily subsidized by the Mexican government, diesel sells for about $2.20 per gallon in Baja California – less than half the price of diesel in California. The differential has caused demand to increase about 40 percent in Tijuana, Pemex reported last month.
The increase in sales has raised alarm in Mexico City that large numbers of U.S. consumers are driving driving south to fill their tanks with subsidized Mexican fuel. Baja California officials and gas station owners acknowledge a growing demand from Californians, but have insisted most of the increase in demand has come from Mexicans on both sides of the border deciding to save money by filling their tanks in Baja California.
Babún said he and other delegation members stressed to Pemex officials that the increase in demand for diesel was also due to a number of large state construction projects.
Babún said the diesel shortages have taken a toll on various sectors statewide, from maquiladoras to growers to transportation and construction companies. Both urban and rural areas have suffered, he said.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com
