“These increases can be explained”: the government assures that fuel distributors have not abused their margins

The energy crisis linked to the war in the Middle East would not have caused a major slippage among fuel distributors. They did not make abusive margins, affirms the government, which will publish figures on the subject this Wednesday.

It will provide an inventory of the evolution of gross margins, “with an approach by typology of distributors”, that is to say large and medium distribution or independent stations, indicated the Minister Delegate in charge of Energy, Maud Bregeon, at the end of the Council of Ministers. “An update will be made every week so that the French can follow the state of the situation. » She evokes a “transparency operation”.

Asked whether the distributors had made abusive margins, the minister replied that “this is not what the calculation formula with which we worked with the distributors shows”. “These increases (fuel prices) are explained and can be explained. It is legitimate by the evolution of market prices, but it should not go beyond that,” she added.

The gross margin is the difference between the price at which the distributor buys the fuel leaving the refinery and the price at which it sells it at the pump. It is used to cover transportation costs and costs related to the operation of the service station.

Prices at their highest since the start of the war

The prices of SP95-E10 and SP98 gasoline in France reached their highest level this Wednesday since the start of the war against Iran launched at the end of February by the United States and Israel. The price of a liter of Super unleaded SP95-E10, the most consumed gasoline in France, was displayed on average at 2.038 euros, according to an AFP calculation carried out on the prices reported by 7,299 stations to a government site. Motorists pay on average 32 cents more (+ 18.47%) compared to February 27, the day before the first Israeli-American strikes on Iran.

As for SP98, a gasoline often more expensive than the others, it was priced at 2.123 euros per liter on average, an increase of almost 30 cents (+ 16.29%). The average price of a liter of diesel still remains at high levels, at 2.227 euros.

The war in the Middle East has caused oil prices to rise sharply, with much of Gulf countries’ crude exports blocked due to the near-paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz, and numerous strikes on energy infrastructure. In France, the sectors most affected by the surge in fuel prices are fishing, transport and agriculture, which consume large amounts of fuel.