Ségolène Royal accuses TotalEnergies of speculating on oil margins

While the price of fuel is strangling households, Ségolène Royale attacks TotalEnergies. The day after the first debate of the socialist primary, this Thursday, the left-wing candidate accused the energy giant of taking advantage of the rise in the price of oil to inflate its margins. “It makes percentage margins increasing, because the price of crude oil is increasing. “It’s a form of speculation on the rise in the price of oil,” she said, speaking to BFMTV.

At the head of state, she would ask the French group to specify “what were its margins before the surge in the price of oil, for example on refining” and would demand that it “[block its] margins at that level”. “Do you know what refining is? It's heating the crude oil, that's all. So when the price of oil increases, the cost of refining, that is to say labor, wages, does not increase. So why would the margin increase in percentage?”, she pretended to wonder. And to drive the point home: “When you have 10% margins on a euro it makes you ten cents, when you have 20% margins it makes you 20 euro cents, without working any more”.

The left-wing candidate, however, was unfavorable to taxes on “super profits”: “I am not in favor of taxes. As soon as you say the word tax there is panic, where is the money going? She instead suggests discussing with TotalEnergies the “unjustified, speculative” difference in margin. This money must be “injected into the energy transition, into the installation of electric terminals, or into assistance with the purchase of electric cars,” she argued. Or used to finance “the reduction in taxes on the cost of gasoline for 3 months”.

The former minister is not the only one to attack TotalEnergies, while prices at the pump weigh on the purchasing power of households. Jean-Luc Mélenchon also suggests tackling refiners' margins. “We propose blocking the margin, multiplied since the start of the war by 7.5,” explained the tribune, denouncing a “racket on the French population, set in particular by the company TotalEnergies”. The group defends itself, recalling in particular that it has a price cap in its stations. A unique measure in the world.