2023-10-09 05:21:48
Baptiste Morin / Photo credits: Marie Magnin / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
modified to
7:28 a.m., October 9, 2023
Since the launch of sales operations at cost price for fuel in major brands, a drop in prices has started to take shape. Around three cents for a liter of gasoline and four cents for diesel. And this good news might continue in the coming days, with the price of a barrel falling by 10%.
This was a reduction eagerly awaited by motorists. In recent days, French fuel distributors have started their sales operation at cost price, allowing a slight reduction in the price at the pump. This is the case at E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Casino and now Système U, which joined the dance this weekend. On average, liters of gasoline and diesel are sold respectively three and four cents cheaper throughout the country.
The price drop might become more pronounced
“This is what we expected,” underlines Olivier Gantois, president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip). “At the end of the meeting with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, I already said that we had to compare a few cents per liter,” he continues. Originally, the government had launched the idea of selling fuel at a loss, but the measure was abandoned as it was too controversial and above all economically risky for the big brands.
Especially since the fall in prices at the pump is expected to continue. The price of a barrel of oil has fallen by more than 10% in recent days. “The oil markets have been very nervous since the start of the war in Ukraine, both up and down. They are now saying that world demand will slow down if China does the same,” analyzes Olivier Gantois.
As a result, a barrel, which sold at $97.69 at its peak on September 27, settled at $83.44 on October 5. Motorists can therefore expect a few cents in additional savings in the coming days. However, this sharp decline may not last. The latest resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has caused the price of crude oil to rise once more by more than 4%.
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