While diesel reaches a record at 2.41 euros per liter on average, the Minister of SMEs Serge Papin defends the cap applied by TotalEnergies. “I don’t want to bother Total,” he admits.
The sentence risks getting people talking. Questioned this morning on BFM-RMC, the Minister of SMEs and Commerce Serge Papin was very clear about his position regarding TotalEnergies : “I don’t want to bother Total“While the price of diesel is reaching record levels and some political leaders are calling for more transparency on the group’s margins, the government is banking for the moment on the voluntary cap practiced by the oil company.”What I hope is that Total continues during this period of crisis to cap its price at 2.25 euros for diesel and 1.99 euros for unleaded“, detailed the minister on BFM-RMC.
A position which occurs while the average price of diesel in France reached 2.41 euros per liter on Sunday, a record level. In its stations, TotalEnergies maintains for its part a ceiling at 2.25 euros for diesel and 1.99 euros for gasoline.
“I don’t want to bother Total“
Serge Papin therefore takes a pragmatic approach: rather than seeking to further constrain TotalEnergiesthe minister wants the group to continue its ceiling during the crisis period. “I don’t want to bother Total“, he repeated, after explaining that the group had an integrated model allowing it to produce, refine and distribute its fuels – TotalEnergies benefits from both production, refining and distribution activities, unlike many independent stations that buy their fuel from suppliers. He also underlined that the Group made its profits on a global scale, while the cap concerns its French network.
The subject is all the more sensitive as the system is not neutral for TotalEnergies. According to its CEO Patrick Pouyanné, the cap put in place for several months discontinuously would have already represented a cost of between 250 and 300 million euros for the group.
A generalized capping excluded… and (another) controversy
The other question concerns a possible extension of this mechanism to all distributors. However, the Minister of Industry Sébastien Martin ruled out this possibility this Wednesday morning on Public Senate. His argument: impose an identical ceiling price on all distributors could put small service stations in difficulty, particularly in rural areas.
The controversy also concerns the Group profits: TotalEnergies recorded a net profit of $11.2 billion in the first half of 2026, up 72% year-on-year, in a context of a sharp rise in hydrocarbon prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East, which fuels calls for additional taxation of windfall profits from the energy sector.
The subject was notably revived by Raphaël Glucksmann, who accused the government of blocking a European initiative aimed at taxing the exceptional profits of energy companies. Government spokesperson and Minister for Energy Maud Bregeon contested this reading: “France is not blocking this initiative“, recalling that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had indicated in the spring that he did not have “objection in principle” to such an extent.
CEE in the viewfinder
Serge Papin also opened another front: that of energy savings certificates (EEC). These measures, which notably require energy suppliers to finance energy saving actions, are regularly accused by certain political leaders of contributing to higher prices paid by consumers. The minister said to himself:favorable” has “a debate“on the subject and believes that it”there should be a transparency operation“. However, he clarified that it was not possible to abolish the EWCs by simple decree.
