Petrol prices soar to record levels
Filling up your car at the pumps now costs €83 compared to €55 two years ago
PETROL prices across France have hit new record levels with the average pump price for SP95 costing €1.5067. Two years ago, the average tank of 55 litres would cost €59: it now costs €83.
The previous record price was in June 2008, when the average litre cost €1.4871.
Diesel prices, too, are soaring. It is the highest-selling fuel across the country with 75 per cent of sales and has hit an average of €1.3513/litre, just 10 centimes below its record price of €1.4541/litre in May 2008.
The higher-octane SP98 is also setting records, with a litre costing €1.5417, up on its June 2008 high of €1.5326.
The figures were compiled by the ecology ministry’s Direction Générale de l'Energie et du Climat. Prices for crude oil have soared in the wake of the uprisings in Libya and some Middle Eastern countries, helped by rising demand in the Far East.
Finistère UMP MP Jacques Le Guen has demanded that the government launch an inquiry. He said he wanted to know if the oil companies were “taking advantage of the present instability in North Africa to boost petrol prices above what was justified”.
Consumers’ body Association de Défense des Consommateurs called for tax rebates for people who had to use their cars to get to work.
The economy ministry has a fuel price calculator online at at the prix-carburants site here where you can check the petrol prices in your commune.
