Fuels: 6,000 stations out of the 10,000 in the country have already lowered the price of diesel, welcomes Serge Papin

“Contract fulfilled”, welcomed Serge Papin, Tuesday November 3, after a meeting in Bercy with fuel distributors. As promised by the government, diesel prices have already started to fall, assured the Minister of SMEs, Trade and Purchasing Power. “To date, there are 6,000 stations out of the 10.

000 who lowered their prices” by 12 cents on average, and even “more than 15 cents” in 4,000 of them, he told the press. This dynamic will continue “in the days to come”, promised Serge Papin, since “little by little, there are indeed the 10.

000 stations which will lower their prices. This reduction, eagerly awaited by millions of French motorists and professionals, is made possible thanks to the release by the government, since November 1, of ten million barrels of diesel, or around 10% of national reserves. A small victory for the executive, especially since the operation is complex and unprecedented.

“This is the first time that strategic stocks have been used to lower prices,” explained Serge Papin, the latter usually being intended to compensate for shortages. Accompanied by numerous “technical and legal problems”, the operation constituted “a real logistical challenge”, underlined the minister. The drop in fuel prices will not only relieve motorists, severely affected by tensions in the Middle East and the blockage of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb.

It will also benefit all professionals, particularly fishermen and farmers, thanks to the reduction in prices for domestic fuel oil and non-road diesel (GNR). The government will ensure, through the Fraud Repression (DGCCRF), that stocks released at low cost “are passed on to consumers’ prices”, assured Serge Papin, who calls on distributors to “play the game”.

Machine-translated from French