Despite its sharp decline since the release of strategic stocks, a liter of diesel remains at least 27 cents more expensive than before the war in the Middle East

It is decreasing, but not enough to return to pre-war levels in the Middle East. Since the release of part of strategic stocks at the beginning of November, the price of diesel has fallen by at least 20 cents in half of French stations, according to an AFP analysis. More broadly, the price of diesel has fallen at more than eight out of ten stations since November 1, according to data from the government fuel price website.

The average price at the station was around 2.20 euros per liter on November 9. However, in all of the 8,500 stations examined, a liter of diesel remains at least 27 cents more expensive than at the start of the war.

In 90% of stations, the price is even 35 to 60 cents higher than before the American strikes on Iran. At the beginning of November, a thousand stations went so far as to lower the price of diesel by more than 30 cents in around ten days. But in most of them, this offsets less than half of the previous increase.

The price of gasoline is also falling. Conversely, prices have not decreased in a thousand stations since the beginning of November. Three quarters are TotalEnergies stations which had capped the price of diesel at 2.25 euros per liter for several months. Despite this cap, prices on November 9 were also 35 to 60 cents higher than before the war, in most of these stations.

At the same time, the price of SP95-E10 gasoline, the most used fuel in France, which is not affected by the release of strategic stocks, has also fallen, more slightly. Since the start of the month, half of the stations have reduced their prices by at least 8 cents per liter. The average price fell below 2.04 euros on November 9.

Started on November 1, the government's operation consists of selling ten million barrels of diesel from strategic stocks at cost price over a period of three months. This exceptional measure was decided to deal with the surge in fuel prices and energy in general caused by the war in the Middle East, which is increasing energy poverty in France.

Machine-translated from French