Faced with rising fuel prices, the French executive had been calling on the oil group to make a gesture in favor of motorists for a few days.
The government ardently asked for it, TotalEnergies did it. Asked to make a gesture towards motorists, in a context of high inflation, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné announced Wednesday evening on TF1 that “Diesel and petrol will not exceed €1.99 per litre” in 2023 in its network of some 3,400 service stations. And to add: “We do it all year round. (…) Currently 4 stations out of 10 display a price higher than 2€ per liter.” Since the beginning of 2023, prices at the pump have started to rise again, as a result of the end of government rebates. In 2022, TotalEnergies had also offered a rebate of 20, then 10 cents per liter, without the executive having to put pressure.
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Tuesday morning, during a wandering at the Rungis market, it was the President of the Republic himself who had urged the oil group to control its prices, calling in particular on “the spirit of responsibility of our major producers and retailers“. “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“added Emmanuel Macron.
On February 8, when fuel prices were approaching two euros per litre, TotalEnergies dangled French motorists with discounts at the pump, but not as long as strikes against the pension reform are disrupting fuel shipments. “We are ready to consider“a new discount, announced Patrick Pouyanné, acknowledging that a liter of fuel at two euros constituted a”psychological threshold (…) in the heads of the French“.