Gas Woes (or Whoas) - Texas Style

Yet another wrinkle of the never ending upward spiral of gasoline prices. Texans living along the Mexican border are crossing over to buy gasoline because it's dramatically cheaper in Mexico.

Nothing new there right? Consumers are going to find the products they want or need for the cheapest possible prices. Well, apparently the gas Americans are buying there, is refined here. From the Chronicle.

With his sales down 40 percent and talk of border residents filling up in Mexico, Laredo Shell station owner Manuel Arechiga took his diesel pickup across the border to see what the story was.

Sure enough, he was able to fill his tank for about $70, as opposed to about $145 at his own station in Texas.

The kick is that the fuel is being refined in the United States and trucked across the border to Mexico, only to be sold at prices subsidized by the government there to protect the Mexican consumer prices that are now cutting into his business.

That's right, gas exported to Mexico from the U.S. is being consumed by U.S. citizens driving to Mexico. It's enough to make your head spin. But don't get to happy South Texas drivers, it might not last as the subsidies cost the Mexican government up to $20 billion annually, and there are calls for them to end.

"It is best to gradually reduce the subsidy of these products to salvage the population's standard of living," Mexican Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel said in a news conference.

If they can figure out a way to do it without throwing their country into chaos that is. Heck, ours too. With prices as high as they are, folks in Laredo and Brownsville might just join in any riots if their access to the cheap stuff is curtailed.

An interesting dilemma indeed. In a related story, there are still no suspects under arrest in the killing of a fuel tanker truck driver in an apparent robbery attempt. The reward for information has been increased.

The possible reward has been boosted by $10,000 in the effort to find the man who killed a fuel truck driver on June 8 at a north Houston gas station.

Crime Stoppers already had offered up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and charges in the slaying of Jorge Hernandez.

Hernandez's employer, Petroleum Wholesale, has added to the amount so that the total reward could be as much as $15,000, Crime Stoppers officials said today.

It's a shame that fuel truck drivers may be required to have armed protection sooner rather than later. Gasoline has been elevated to the level of precious commodity that I'm sure brings a premium price on the black market. I suppose it's just a sign of the times.