Maud Descamps, edited by Gauthier Delomez 5:09 p.m., March 15, 2022

Fuel prices have been lowered since Monday, while the crisis in Ukraine is still unfolding.

Motorists hope the trend will continue over time.

A decrease which is explained by the variations of the barrel of Brent, correlated to the Russian military operation and to the adjustments of the distributors.

A roller coaster price.

After having exceeded the bar of two euros per liter, or even more in certain service stations in France, the price of fuel has been falling since Monday, to the delight of motorists.

A decline began even before the entry into force of the discount of 15 cents promised by the government.

To explain this phenomenon, it should be noted that prices at the pump reflect variations in the barrel of Brent, which fell below 100 dollars.

>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here 

The repercussions of the crisis in Ukraine

Usually, it takes about ten days from the time the price of a barrel changes, to observe it when you go to fill up with gas.

However, since the start of the crisis in Ukraine, the context has been a little unusual, which means that the price of a barrel can vary very greatly during the same day.

This is why the repercussions at the pump are immediate, as explained by Olivier Gantois, president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries, at the microphone of Europe 1: "On the prices published today (Tuesday), compared to those of last week published by the ministry, we have an increase of 24 centimes per liter, for example for diesel.These extreme variations, which we had never seen in the memory of oil companies, justify that the distributors are obliged to pass on increases very quickly, as well as decreases."

>> READ ALSO

- Rising fuel prices: farmers denounce the increase in non-road diesel

Why it is impossible to make projections

While some retail players foresee an upcoming drop of 35 cents per liter, fuel prices are still very high.

The barrel of Brent has continued to fall for the past few days, which is why we can expect the price to also continue to fall at the pump.

However, it is impossible to make projections.

Everything will depend on the evolution of the crisis in Ukraine.

And besides, at the start of the Russian offensive, the financial and oil markets had already panicked very quickly.