Drawing on strategic fuel stocks is “not trivial”, underlines economist Patrice Geoffron

Drawing on strategic diesel stocks to lower prices at the pump is "not trivial", underlines Sunday November 1 on franceinfo Patrice Geoffron, professor at Paris-Dauphine University and co-president of the Circle of Economists. The government has decided to make ten million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves available to distributors from this Sunday, with the objective of reducing prices by 12 to 18 cents per liter. The principle consists of mixing diesel purchased at current prices with fuel acquired before the start of the war in the Middle East, when prices were significantly lower.

“For about a fifth”, it involves adding diesel purchased at a time when “we paid for it at around 1.70 euros per liter”, explains the economist. This mechanism allows us to “hope for price reductions of around 15 cents” per liter of diesel, he specifies. Also read Fuel: what will the release of French strategic diesel stocks change?

Strategic stocks, recalls Patrice Geoffron, constitute a “kind of savings which have been set up for difficult times”, particularly in the event of a risk of shortage. However, “there is no threat of shortage yet,” he specifies. This operation therefore aims to reduce prices at the pump rather than responding to a shortage of fuel.

The choice to concentrate this measure on diesel is explained in particular by its price, now "significantly higher than the price of gasoline", which "is not usually the case", notes Patrice Geoffron. It also highlights the use of diesel in rural areas, in environments where motorists have "few other options, particularly in terms of public transport". “This is why the effort is concentrated on diesel,” he concludes.

Machine-translated from French