“An important gesture” on the part of TotalEnergies, salutes Gabriel Attal

“It is an important gesture that I welcome”declared Thursday, February 23 on franceinfo the Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, about the fuel cap until the end of the year in the 3,400 TotalEnergies service stations, with the exception of the Excellium diesel and unleaded 98. The CEO of the company, Patrick Pouyanné, announced Wednesday evening that their price will not exceed 1.99 euros.

The cost of this “gesture”for TotalEnergies, “will depend on the increase in the cost of oil this year”, points out the minister. Nevertheless, “if this measure was applied last year, it would have cost 600 million euros to Total”he assures, either “a little more than the discount cost”. TotalEnergies has indeed granted discounts at the pump of 20 then 10 euro cents in its stations, from September to December 2022, for a total cost of 550 million euros.

“We must make gestures for the French”

The oil group made 20.5 billion euros in profits in 2022 worldwide. “When you make profits, even more when you make them in a context of speculation on energy prices as is the case here, you have to make gestures for the French”, believes Gabriel Attal. He recalls that the government “regularly asks companies that can to support the French for their purchasing power, by limiting price increases as much as possible”.

“I think you always have to go as far as possible,” he adds. Is this the case with the capping of unleaded 95 or diesel in TotalEnergies stations? “We will see in the months to come”, he evacuates. For the moment, “let’s already welcome the fact that there is a gesture”. This “gesture” was requested by Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday during a trip to the market of national interest in Rungis, in Val-de-Marne.