Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, alongside the vice president of the Italian group Eni, and the Qatari and Lebanese energy ministers, in Beirut, January 29, 2023. PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA VIA GETTY IMAGES
French energy giant TotalEnergies announced on Thursday, March 12, that it would maintain a price cap on gasoline at €1.99 per liter, at least through the end of March. This policy was implemented in 2023 at the height of the oil price surge triggered by the war in Ukraine. However, the company is increasing the diesel price cap, which will now rise to €2.09 per liter. According to its statement, this measure should still "immediately benefit customers at 1,830 stations out of the 3,300 in the TotalEnergies network in France," since prices at the other stations are already lower.
Within the multinational's headquarters in the La Défense, the business district just outside Paris, executives denied acting under government pressure. They insisted the move aimed to "protect" customers from the fuel price spike unleashed by the war in the Middle East. According to the International Energy Agency, this crisis is causing "the most significant disruption" to oil supply in history, with consequences also affecting TotalEnergies' operations.
