TotalEnergies up controversy in France with capped gasoline prices

French motorists are clogging TotalEnergies service stations to fill up with discount gasoline but its rivals are crying foul, accusing the energy giant of distorting competition with the encouragement of the government. TotalEnergies, which pumps crude oil and refines it into gasoline, also has an extensive network of filling stations throughout France, where retail sales are usually dominated by supermarkets selling gasoline at or near cost in order to pull in customers. But as oil prices shot higher this spring due to the US-Iran war, the highly profitable company announced a cap of 1.99 euros per litre ($2.29 per litre, roughly $8.70 per US gallon), considerably less than national average of around 2.15 euros per litre – and up to nearly 2.50 euros in others areas, including Paris. Oil spikes as Saudis sucked into Yemen spiral To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: The debate © France 24 44:12 The cap, which has been in place intermittently for the past five...