Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, stated during an event organized by BPI France that the company has gained popularity in France by capping fuel prices at its stations. He claimed this decision has successfully balanced capitalism, profit-making, and public favor. The company has set a maximum price of 2.25 euros per liter for diesel and 1.99 euros for gasoline, which are significantly lower than the national average. This pricing strategy, applied intermittently over the past five months, reportedly cost the company between 250 and 300 million euros. Despite this, TotalEnergies reported a doubling of its profit in the first half of the year, reaching 11.2 billion euros. Pouyanné emphasized that the company was not legally required to implement the price caps. He had previously told France Inter that if there were any taxation on profits, TotalEnergies would reconsider the policy. The French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, had encouraged the company to adopt a generous price cap, while the political class advocated for a tax on excessive profits. The price capping policy has drawn criticism from major French fuel distributors, who accuse TotalEnergies of profiting from the situation. Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Coopérative U, criticized the practice, calling it unfair and stating that some companies are exploiting the situation. Michel Edouard-Leclerc, another distributor, said he could not follow TotalEnergies' pricing and accused refiners of pocketing excessive profits. The FF3C, a federation representing fuel and heating companies, noted that the price caps make the products offered by large distributors less competitive, as they typically attract customers with low-priced fuel. According to TotalEnergies, the price capping strategy has increased its market share by two to three percentage points, rising from 22% to 25%. Pouyanné claimed that the strategy has also improved the company's image, despite its reputation for low corporate tax rates in France compared to its global profits.