French finance chiefs on Thursday moved to calm fears of a sharp rise in fuel prices as fighting between Israel and Iran in the Middle East entered a sixth day and global oil prices climbed.
Economy Minister Roland Lescure met fuel suppliers at the finance ministry in Paris to discuss the situation after acknowledging that petrol prices could rise by a few cents at stations across France.
The meeting was called to ensure fuel retailers do not raise prices faster than global oil markets justify and to keep the impact on consumers “reasonable”, the economy ministry said ahead of the talks.
Oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Thursday. Brent crude climbed $2.65 to $83.99 a barrel, its fifth straight session of gains. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.76 to $77.42.
"It's normal given the increase in the price oil," Lescure told French broadcaster Franceinfo before the meeting.
"In more than 97 percent of the territory, there is no problem. That is to say we are in a normal situation where we have petrol everywhere. We need to keep calm."
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Limited increases
Maud Brégeon, junior minister for energy and government spokesperson, said drivers could see small price rises in the short term.
"In the short term, we can expect an increase of a few cents in France, contained and limited. Of course, there will be differences from one service station to another," Brégeon told French broadcaster BFMTV/RMC.
She also said some petrol stations had raised prices more than the national average and called on retailers to act “reasonably” as the government reviews the situation.
Before meeting distributors, Lescure warned the government would check whether pump price increases reflected movements in global oil markets.
Officials said checks would be carried out to make sure price rises remain proportional to the increase in the cost of crude oil.
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European supply reassurances
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, also sought to calm fears of major supply disruptions.
The 27-nation bloc was not dependent on oil coming from Gulf States, she said.
"It doesn't have such an impact on us when it comes to security of supply," Kallas said.
Meanwhile, the conflict continued to escalate.
Israel's military said in a statement Thursday it had begun a large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The assaults were confirmed by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. Local media reported several explosions in Tehran and said Iranian armed forces had responded.
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French diplomatic contacts
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Thursday he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi for the first time since Israeli and American air forces bombarded Iran killing the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The foreign minister reiterated France's commitment to the stability of the Middle East, to de-escalation and to the resumption of a demanding diplomatic dialogue, in compliance with international law which must govern the use of force," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Barrot also spoke to Araghchi about the French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris.
They were released in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families say were fabricated.
However, they are still waiting to leave the country.
France has described Kohler and Paris as "state hostages" taken by Tehran in a bid to extract concessions.
