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Some price-weary motorists now buy their gas in Tijuana
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050909-9999-2m9tj...
By Anna Cearley
September 9, 2005
TIJUANA ? Some border-area residents are filling their gas tanks with Mexican gasoline to avoid escalating prices in San Diego County.
At a Pemex gasoline station about a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border, San Diego resident Roberto Saucedo said he started buying Mexican gasoline when
U.S. gasoline prices jumped over $2.50 per gallon.
"I think the prices there are too much," said Saucedo, who had crossed the border with his wife in their RV. "Now when I'm here, I also get gasoline."
Saucedo works in an auto body shop and frequently travels through Baja California with his wife.
He said he can now fill up his RV for roughly $140 in Mexico ? about $60 less than what he would pay in San Diego.
A gallon of standard gasoline in Tijuana and other border areas costs about $2.15, compared with gas that costs closer to $3 in San Diego County.
The gasoline is distributed by Pemex, Mexico's state-run oil monopoly. Pemex, formally known as Petroleos Mexicanos, controls the standards for its
gasoline stations, many of which now operate as franchises.
Several Mexican gas-station workers said yesterday that they began noticing the increase in business about a month ago. At two gas stations, workers
said demand has jumped between 20 percent and 30 percent.
"People are saying that gas costs more over there," said Jos? Raygoza, manager of a Pemex station in the downtown area at 10th Street and Madero.
Gas-station workers said they aren't seeing people driving to Mexico just to buy gas. Some of the extra business comes from tourists and people such
as Saucedo who are traveling through Mexico.
Most, however, appear to be Tijuana residents who used to get their gasoline in the United States when they ran errands in San Diego County.
"These are people who regularly cross the border, and now they are buying it here to avoid the price increases," said Carlos Covarrubias, who works at
a Pemex gasoline station at the intersection of Ignacio Zaragoza and Sanchez Taboada, where Saucedo was filling up his RV.
Also at the station was Marcela Gastellum of Tijuana, a secretary who said she usually goes to the United States four times a month to run errands.
She said she regularly buys gas in the United States, but not last week.
"That was the first time I didn't fill it there," she said.
Until the prices drop, she said, "I can just keep buying gasoline here."
Many Mexicans said they prefer to buy gasoline in the United States because they believe it's of higher quality.
Saucedo, who said he's a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he finds the gasoline south of the border satisfactory ? and worth the savings.
Jes?s Miguel Lizarraga Garcia, shift manager at the gas station, said the Mexican government decided a couple of years ago to match the price of
gasoline along the border with that of nearby U.S. gas stations. Back then, he said, gas cost less in the United States.
The Mexican government isn't matching the recent upswing in prices because that would hurt many Mexicans along the border, he said.
"Most of the people here use a car out of necessity," he said.
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neilmac
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Posts: 127
Registered: 1-3-2005
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Is Pemex diesel...
... still less than $2.00/gal?... and, are there any 'accurate' pumps in TJ, Tecate or Mexicali? El Rosario is a little far for a fillup run!
Neil
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