In the midst of a rise in oil prices, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire asked TotalEnergies this Thursday, September 7 to extend its cap on pump prices “beyond December 31”. “TotalEnergies is the only major French oil company that we have left, it must be an asset for all motorists,” insisted Bruno Le Maire, before affirming his “confidence” in the boss of the energy company, Patrick Pouyanné, “for let him take into consideration the difficulties of our compatriots.”
Announced in February, “this measure will apply until the end of the year. We will look at the subject for 2024,” said its CEO last Friday on Public Senate. “The measure is effective, it is understandable and therefore it has many virtues. If we see that the French understand it, well why not perpetuate it. But everything in its time,” he added. In 2022, the discounts of 20 then 10 cents, granted by TotalEnergies from September to December 2022, cost the company 550 million euros and caused an influx into its service stations. The multinational achieved the best profit in its history in 2022, at 20.5 billion euros, and remains very profitable this year.
A rebate would constitute an “aberration”
Bruno Le Maire sees the idea of an extension of the government rebate as a “triple aberration: ecological, budgetary and diplomatic”. “Two countries, Saudi Arabia and Russia, have decided to reduce their production, which obviously has an impact on the price” by restricting global supply, he admitted. Under these conditions, this would amount, according to him, to “paying for the oil diplomacy of Mr. Putin and Saudi Arabia.” Last week, the price of fuel at the pump in France was on average 1.85 euros per liter for diesel, and 1.95 euros for SP95, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Energy Transition. A liter of SP98 was close to two euros, at 1.9990.
The price of a barrel is soaring because the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – representing around 40% of crude production in the world – has decided, led by Saudi Arabia, to reduce its supply to maintain a high price. . But the cost at the pump is only partly made up of that of the barrel. The rate of the euro also plays a key role because world market prices are expressed in dollars. Variations of the euro in relation to the American currency therefore have a direct impact on prices: we mechanically pay more for crude oil when the euro loses its value, as Olivier Gantois, president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip), in Release.
The price of a crude barrel of oil is not the only thing that affects the price: the quotation in Rotterdam, the price of refined oil on the northern European market, increases and also affects the evolution of costs. Refining and distribution margins, usually stable, also tend to increase and inflate prices. The share of taxes has not changed since 2018. To try to make this increase less visible, several large-scale service stations, such as Casino or Super U, are launching fuel sales operations at cost price starting this weekend.