As the heat wave prepares to sweep over France, motorists are entitled to a new cold shower. But not ones that soothe. At the pump, prices once again reached stratospheric levels last week, according to figures published by the Ministry of Energy Transition on Monday. Take diesel: for the third time since the beginning of the year, it has exceeded the symbolic bar of 2 euros per litre.
The best-selling fuel in France – around two-thirds of stocks sold in service stations – was selling for 2.07 euros. He took almost 11 cents in one week! And again, that’s an average. On motorways, most of the totems at the entrance to service areas display more than 2.30 euros per litre. In Île-de-France, stations below two euros can be counted on the fingers of one hand, the cheapest being in Val-d’Oise, at 1.899 euros per liter.
Gasoline has never been so expensive
Drivers who fill up their gas tank are no better off. The price of the SP 95-E10 continues its mad ascent to 2.1 euros (+ 3 cents). Same for the SP 98, at 2.2 euros. It’s simple: it has never cost so much in France.
These prices are not surprising, because the drivers undergo an alignment of the planets, but not the one that can be observed at the moment in the sky. Since mid-May, the barrel of Brent, which is a benchmark in Europe, has returned to the peaks. This Monday, it was trading around 120 dollars, as in March. Difficulties for oil companies to do without Russian hydrocarbons, recovery of consumption in China, start of the summer season in the United States, explosion of refining margins, without forgetting certainly speculation on the markets… All these factors explain the fever of price at the pump.
And again, the situation could be much worse, because the government rebate of 18 cents in mainland France (15 cents elsewhere) is still applied. For the moment, the government plans to apply it until the end of the long holidays. And then ? The executive phosphorus on a more targeted boost, which would benefit the big rollers. The measure will be part of the bill devoted to purchasing power which must be presented just after the legislative elections.