Mexico gasoline significantly cheaper than U.S.

So how long will be it until we start getting the crackpots of our society complaining that Mexico is undermining the hardworking people who operate gasoline stations in the southwestern United States?

My mind can already hear the complaints coming after they learn that people who live along the U.S./Mexico border have started making special trips to Mexico whenever they need to fill up their tanks with gasoline.

AS IT IS, some are already trying to tell tales of substandard gas being peddled in Mexico, as a way of discouraging southwestern U.S. residents from making the drive through the border crossings to get cheap gasoline.

As someone who used to make the trip from Chicago’s South Side to Indiana in hopes of finding slightly cheaper gas for my car, I can understand the logic – particularly when the savings to motorists are as potentially large as they are today.

Regular unleaded gasoline in San Diego can cost as much as $4.61 per gallon, while crossing the border to buy gas in Tijuana can result in one paying the equivalent of $2.54 per gallon, according to the Union-Tribune newspaper.

For those San Diego-area people who use diesel fuel, making the trip south of the border can result in paying $2.20 per gallon, compared to $5.04 per gallon in the United States.

NOW HOW DO Mexican officials manage to keep prices so significantly lower?

In Mexico, there is no competition among gas stations. No Shell or Amoco or BP, or cheap convenience stores peddling off-brand gasoline. Pemex (Petroleo Mexico) is a government-run utility company that controls oil production, and it supplies all the gas sold by its stations.

So one can say the Mexican taxpayers are subsidizing the cost of gasoline – ensuring that motorists pay a price at the pump less than the market rate.

Now I’m not about to suggest that the U.S. government get involved in selling gasoline to motorists. Anyone who has ever ridden an Amtrak train knows how third-rate the federal government has made intercity train service. I’d hate to see how horrid service would be at a government-run gas station.

BUT IT IS nice to see the Mexican government taking seriously the notion that there ought to be a limit to gas prices. Just last month, Mexican officials approved a $20 million subsidy meant to make up the difference between the price paid by motorists for gas and its actual cost of production.

That was their response to gas prices in Mexico jumping as much as 25 percent during the first few months of this year.

What is most ironic is that the loss of U.S. business is not purely due to U.S. people making the drive into Mexico. Mexican citizens who live near the border and have jobs in the United States used to make a point of buying gasoline for their cars while at work – out of a belief they were somehow getting a superior product because U.S.-blends of gasoline have lower levels of sulfur in the mix.

But with the vast difference, many Mexican citizens are now accepting gasoline from their local gas stations, officials with the Association of Gasoline Station Owners of Tijuana told the Union-Tribune newspaper.

SOME U.S. PEOPLE are trying to fight back by exploiting the belief that U.S.-blended gasoline is a superior product than that sold by Pemex, which still suffers image problems from a public scandal of the 1990s – when federal officials caught local gas station managers selling gasoline that did not meet proper standards.

But ultimately, the ridiculous rates being charged these days for U.S.-blended gasoline are overcoming any concerns, or nationalistic thoughts, people might have. The Union-Tribune found some California car owners who said the Pemex-blend gasoline works just fine, particularly if they mix an occasional additive into their gas tanks.

How outrageous are our gasoline prices these days?

THEY HAVE CALIFORNIANS willing to wait in ridiculous lines, but not at gas stations. Border Patrol officials have noticed an increase in the number of people trying to get back into the country.

Due to the increase and to procedures meant to ensure that Arab terrorists aren’t slipping through the U.S./Mexico border, the return trip can result in a wait of up to two hours at certain times of the day.

One has to wonder how much of that cheaper gas gets burned up while the car sits idle, waiting for border guards to give the okay for the driver to re-enter the United States?

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EDITOR’S NOTES: People going into Mexico to purchase gasoline had better keep in mind (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080614-9999-1n14tjgas.html) that they use the Metric system south of the border.

Pemex is experiencing a boost from the skyrocketing gasoline prices afflicting motorists everywhere (http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-gas-mexico,0,1305757.story) because the Mexican government is trying to address the issue.

This story is the perfect example of how the news and information business would suffer if newspapers were to wither away. This Associated Press story that has appeared (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJCO8vbrD6nPzJywPIUuEF7p1q1gD91AGV0O0) in many different places is little more than a re-write of the Union-Tribune story.