The liter of 95 unleaded petrol or diesel will be capped at €1.99 per liter this year at the 3,400 TotalEnergies service stations in France, its CEO announced on Wednesday February 22, the day after President Emmanuel Macron to make a ” gesture “. “The measure we are announcing is that in all TotalEnergies stations in 2023, diesel and gasoline will not exceed 1 euro 99”said Patrick Pouyanné on TF1.
The measure – which excludes premium Excellium diesel and unleaded 98 products – will be implemented “this Saturday on the highways” and from March 1 in all the stations of the group, which concentrates around a third of the 10,000 French stations, he said on Twitter. “This measure for all protects our customers against excessively high prices”underlined Patrick Pouyanné.
20.5 billion euros in profit
The company, which made 20.5 billion euros in profits in 2022, had been under pressure from Emmanuel Macron for 24 hours to make a ” gesture “ in this period of high inflation, caused in particular by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I hope that the dialogue can be finalized between the ministry and the companies concerned as was done last year on fuels with rebates at the pump which had been made by companies like Total”President Macron said on Tuesday from the Rungis wholesale market.
Prices for the moment clearly under 2 €
From September to December 2022, TotalEnergies had granted discounts at the pump of 20 then 10 cents in its stations, for a total cost of 550 million euros. The principle was different from the cap announced on Wednesday, because the rebate applied regardless of the price at the pump. This was on top of a state-funded rebate, which ended on December 31 and which the government was unwilling to extend in the name of fiscal responsibility.
Prices at the pump in France remain for the moment well below the symbolic bar of 2 €. The European embargo on Russian diesel, in force since the beginning of February, could however make diesel more expensive in the future. Last week, diesel was sold in France at an average price of €1.8382 per litre, and unleaded 95-E10 at €1.8776.