Another blow for motorists. After a fall in fuel prices in recent months, the French could see petrol increase again during the 2023 summer holidays. Yet these costs remain more expensive than our European neighbors. Indeed, for the last week of June, the SP 95 is at 1.853 euros per liter according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
But according to figures from Brussels, prices are cheaper in Germany, Italy or even Spain, as Europe 1 reports. Moreover, France would be the country in the euro zone whose fuel prices have increased the most since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. For these reasons, the Minister for Energy Transition asked distributors last May to lower prices.
If the price of SP 95 and SP 98 remain expensive, the latter nevertheless fell by 1.38% between the end of May 2023 and the end of June 2023. But professionals in the sector mention the reasons for these prices. The rising cost of ethanol would be one of the main reasons. However, car gasoline is made up of 10% of this product. Strikes and blockades would also explain the increase in distribution costs.
At the time of the mobilizations against the pension reform, many service stations were in shortage of gasoline. For good reason, the refineries were blocked for several weeks by the unions concerned. For diesel, this increase is justified by the significant costs linked to the cessation of imports from Russia. According to professionals in the sector, this increase therefore does not correspond to an additional margin, but to higher production and distribution costs. Nevertheless, with the commitment of Total, which has capped the liter at 1.99 euros, prices now seem to be stagnating. But the forecasts for this summer seem to announce a new rise. For what reasons ?
In the TF1 TV news of June 6, many motorists are already talking about the excessively high prices applied in service stations. Indeed, over one year, the barrel of oil has fallen by 40%. It currently costs around $77. These figures correspond to those of September 2021, that is to say, before the war in Ukraine. At that time, the liter of diesel was at 1.47 euros. The SP 95 was at 1.59 euros.
The prices were therefore much cheaper than those currently applied for the same price per barrel. According to Olivier Gantois, president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries, energy and mobility (UFIP), these prices particularly benefit the State. Indeed, 60% of the price of a liter of fuel corresponds to taxes. Is it for the same reasons that prices are likely to rise again this summer?
If the price of a barrel of oil has arrived at a low enough price, it is not likely to last. Indeed, the oil-producing countries have decided to reduce the production of this product. It is estimated that several million barrels are produced in a day. “The price of oil, between Friday and today, has increased by approximately 2%. The impact on pump prices, if this level remains, will be approximately two-three cents per liter”, explains Anne Creti, energy specialist from Paris-Dauphine-PSL University, to the editorial staff of TF1.
This summer, it is therefore possible that a liter of gasoline will come very close to two euros.
