Fuel: Sébastien Lecornu assures that diesel prices will fall “from November 1”

Sébastien Lecornu assured Monday that diesel prices would fall “from November 1” after the destocking of 10 million barrels of diesel, which will be put on sale from October 28 for approximately three months. “On October 28, the sale of volumes to distributors will begin, and on November 1, prices will drop at the pump,” said the Prime Minister in a video broadcast on government social networks. To do this, he will issue a decree in the “coming days”.

Sébastien Lecornu received fuel distributors on Monday morning to ask them to pass on the expected drop in prices at the pump, estimated by the government at between 12 and 18 cents. At the end of this meeting, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné committed to reducing the price of a liter of diesel for individuals by eight to 12 cents and that of a liter of non-road diesel (GNR) by 20 cents. In addition to the destocking of diesel by France, Patrick Pouyanné said he expected a “relaxation on the market” of diesel prices due to the agreement announced by Washington with Moscow concerning this fuel. But the European Union fears that this agreement will allow Russia to finance its war against Ukraine.

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“Cash advances” for rural stations

Francis Pousse, president of the Mobilians network, which represents the majority of traditional service stations excluding supermarkets, did not provide a price, affirming that the reduction would be passed on “as soon as we have a discounted price, our margin being fixed whatever the price”. Sébastien Lecornu assured that rural service stations could lower their prices without waiting for the first delivery thanks to “cash advances” and a “specialized fund” intended for some 300 of them. The drop in diesel prices “will appear on the invoices of each link in the chain”, and will be displayed in service stations, the Prime Minister also promised.

The government will publish each week the volumes released on the market, the reduction in cost that this represents, and the average prices at the pump at the national level, while the state services will control the prices and margins of distributors. The surge in fuel prices is undermining the purchasing power of the French, which has become a theme of the presidential campaign and calls for demonstrations, particularly on October 17.