TotalEnergies has attracted motorists to its French service stations with an intermittent cap of €1.99 per litre for E10 and €2.25 for diesel, well below national prices after fuel costs surged this spring because of the US-Iran war. The measure has cost the company €250 million to €300 million over five months, although higher oil prices helped double its first-half profit to €11.2 billion. Independent petrol stations and supermarkets accuse the vertically integrated energy company of using its upstream margins to undercut competitors, while the FF3C has filed a complaint with France’s competition regulator. The cap was introduced amid political pressure over energy windfall taxes, and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné says TotalEnergies will end it if such a tax is imposed. The government is monitoring fuel supplies and prices ahead of a presidential election seven months away, after around one in 10 French stations lacked at least one fuel, most of them TotalEnergies sites.