France in talks with Abu Dhabi to import fuel this winter

Reuters/Stephane Mahe

France is talking to Abu Dhabi about importing fuel and diesel for the coming winter season, TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Pouyanne told the French Senate this was a response to the Russia/Ukraine conflict, which has impacted Russian energy supplies to Europe.

Fuel prices in France were at $2.27 a litre last month, according to Trading Economics website, up from a low of $1.91 a letre in December.

Last month, G7 leaders – which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US – were considering the feasibility of introducing a price cap on energy imports.

“The feasibility of implementing such price caps is highly doubtful,” Ramy Al-Ashmawy, senior energy specialist at the Saudi-based Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), told AGBI.

With prices rising across Europe, Al-Ashmawy said a better alternative to a price cap would be for G7 governments to consider using their tax apparatus to reduce prices at the petrol pumps.

“The only possible way to reduce energy prices for end users is through each government applying variable tax cuts on energy commodities to cool down domestic end user prices up to a certain point,” he said.