TotalEnergies is capping the price of gasoline and diesel at its stations in France to protect consumers from the “exceptional market volatility” since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, the French supermajor said on Thursday.
From March 13 until March 31, 2026, the price of gasoline and diesel at TotalEnergies will be capped at 1.99 euros and 2.09 euros per liter, respectively.
TotalEnergies will reassess the measure and the state of the global fuel markets in early April, it said today.
Oil prices have indeed seen wild swings in just a few days. Prices soared to nearly $120 per barrel briefly early on Monday, before the U.S. Administration, G-7, and the International Energy Agency rushed to calm the markets that a large emergency stocks release could be imminent.
The market calmed for a day, with Brent Crude prices falling below $90 a barrel on Tuesday, before soaring to nearly $100 again on Wednesday and early Thursday, as the market began to realize how immense the supply disruption is with a blocked Strait of Hormuz.
Related: Six Stocks That Could Soar in an Era of Regional Instability
Oil prices surged even after the record-high coordinated release of 400 million stocks announced by the IEA.
The agency said on Thursday that the Middle East war is creating the biggest supply disruption in the history of the oil market as flows of about 20 million barrels per day of crude and products through the Strait of Hormuz have crashed to a trickle.
“In the absence of a rapid resumption of shipping flows, supply losses are set to increase,” the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report today.
Gasoline and especially diesel prices have soared in recent days as the blockage at the Strait of Hormuz is sending refining cracks to multi-year highs, refineries in the Gulf are being shut due to drone strikes, and Asian countries restrict or outright ban exports of fuels to protect its domestic supply amid the uncertainty about the next crude delivery to refineries.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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