French petrol prices at new low since the start of 2017

Good news for motorists in France - the price of fuel has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of the year, following a decline in oil prices around the world.

In previous months, the price of oil had been rising after the Saudi-led OPEC bloc of producers restricted production. However, the US is now over-supplying the market, which inevitably brings the price down at source – meaning supermarkets and service stations can pass on savings to customers.

Official figures from the French Environment and Energy Ministry show that the average price of diesel is now €1.2598 per litre, which represents a drop of 0.72 centimes in just one week.

Unleaded petrol is also at a new lowest price since early 2017: SP95-E10 (which contains less than 10% of ethanol) fell by 1.23 cents to €1.3731 per litre, while SP95 lost 1.17 cents to €1.4015 per litre. SP98 fell by 1.09 cents to €1.4654 per litre.

A spokesman for the fuel comparison website Carbu.com, which also reported on the new low prices, said: "While there was every reason to believe that prices would be revised upwards in early 2017 as a result of the OPEC agreement, pump prices have fallen overall in recent weeks - although they are still up from a year ago.”