TotalEnergies pledges 8 to 12 cent diesel cut as France releases strategic fuel stocks

A cut tied to state stock releases

TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné pledged on Monday, 12 October, to cut the price of a litre of diesel for private motorists by 8 to 12 cents from early November, once part of France's strategic fuel stocks is released. He spoke after a meeting at Matignon with fuel distributors around Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. The government has said that releasing 10 million barrels from strategic stocks would lower prices by 12 to 18 cents. Pouyanné said that for TotalEnergies the effect would be closer to 8 to 12 cents.

The range given by the Prime Minister, that the release would bring a fall of 12 to 18 cents, for us will rather be 8 to 12, so about ten cents.

Pouyanné also committed to a 20 cent per litre cut on non-road diesel (GNR) for farmers, construction firms and fishermen, a fuel that is not capped at the company's stations.

Price cap and market share

TotalEnergies will keep its cap on diesel at 2.25 euros a litre for private customers. The group has capped petrol at 1.99 euros and diesel at 2.25 euros a litre since 22 July. Pouyanné said that if the advantage the group is being given existed today, the price at its stations would be around 2.15 euros. Diesel prices in France peaked above 2.40 euros in September, according to the reporting. Pouyanné said the company's market share was 23% in 2025 and is now above 30%, and that its share of GNR sales is roughly 35%.

Government figures and the wider market

Government data cited by Le Figaro put the average diesel price at 2.3283 euros per litre in early October, 5.5 cents below its mid-September record and a third consecutive weekly decline. A sharper fall is expected from November. Pouyanné expects the French stock release, along with a US-Moscow arrangement on Russian diesel, to push prices down. The United States has lifted sanctions on Russian diesel under that arrangement. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the lifting helps fuel the Kremlin's war against Ukraine. Pouyanné also said refining margins, the gap between petroleum product prices and crude prices, have fallen sharply.

Refinery strike in Normandy

Separately, workers at TotalEnergies' Normandy refinery have been on strike since Thursday, 8 October, over jobs and wages, and the strike continued on Monday. The CGT union at the refinery, through its general secretary Alexis Antonioli, said the strike continues, and it has blocked fuel shipments by pipeline and by truck. The refinery usually produces 12% of the fuel sold at French service stations. TotalEnergies says it continues to supply its network and has started an intermediate shutdown of about 20 days for maintenance, which it says was scheduled weeks ago and is unrelated to the strike. The CGT demands a 200 euro monthly raise for all staff and a minimum base salary of 1.2 times the French minimum wage (Smic). The company has advanced 1,000 euros on annual bonuses, with the total to be discussed in December.