“A big acceleration” in orders for fuel oil and fuels notes the French Federation of Fuels, Fuels and Heating

The French Federation of Fuels, Fuels and Heating (FF3C) notes "a big acceleration" in orders for fuel oil and fuels after the destocking of strategic reserves by the government, said Tuesday, November 3 on ICI Bourgogne Emmanuel Ampaud, president of the Piretti Energies group (based in Burgundy-Franche-Comté) and president of the FF3C. In mid-October, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced a drop of 12 to 18 cents in diesel from November 1 thanks to the destocking of 10 million barrels of diesel from the State's strategic reserves. As a result, the price of diesel but also that of non-road diesel (NGR) used in particular by farmers and fishermen, as well as the price of domestic fuel oil have fallen.

As of Monday, November 2, more than half of gas stations had already lowered their prices, according to the government. Also read "There is no magic wand": we explain why fuel prices are falling slightly, and why it may not last "We have had a sort of wait-and-see attitude from our customers, whether they are individuals or professionals for several weeks", explains Emmanuel Ampaud, whose job is to deliver fuel oil and fuel to professionals. Then, “from Friday, we had the first influx of orders both on our websites and by telephone, and there, really, we have a big, big acceleration”.

A "one shot" release Consumers "not only waited for the clearance, but what's more, this price drop comes at a time when the cold weather is also arriving." As a result, this double price/weather effect “forces us to double or triple our daily delivery volumes”, describes the president of the FF3C. This release of barrels by the State is a "one shot" but "we can hope that, when this operation is completed at the end of January, the international situation will be more favorable and that at that time, we can at least have a stabilization of prices, or even a drop in prices", he said.

His union nevertheless regrets that other avenues have not been exploited to lower prices. He "has long defended other measures: we could have lowered taxes, lowered the TICPE [Internal consumption tax on energy products]. We could also have temporarily suspended energy saving certificates which also cost 14 to 15 cents", continues Emmanuel Ampaud.

By using all these levers, “we could probably have made a greater reduction, but this type of decision is in the hands of the State,” he observes.

Machine-translated from French