Patrick Pouyanné did not mince words. This Saturday, August 29, 2026, on France Inter, the CEO of TotalEnergies hammered home the formula: “For as long as the conflict lasts, we will continue to provide this protection.” Gasoline at 1.99 euros per liter, diesel at 2.25 euros, at all stations in the French network. Period. Or almost. Because right after, he pulled out the other cartridge: if a tax on windfall profits comes down, “we will draw the lessons from it and there will never again be a cap at TotalEnergies.” There’s the buzz served hot, picked up everywhere, from Le Parisien to Le Monde by way of Les Echos. And for once, the quote matches the microphone. The scheme was not born of a decree. It was TotalEnergies that invented it in March 2026, shortly after the start of hostilities in the Middle East – this conflict around Iran that disrupted the Strait of Hormuz and sent prices soaring. The group had eased it a little in June, when a provisional ceasefire had calmed prices. Then the conflict resumed, international prices too: in July, TotalEnergies put the lid back on everywhere, including on highways for the long weekends. Official press release to back it up. Today, national averages are still floating above 2 euros per liter. At Total, the cap serves as a dike. Customers flock in, lines grow longer, market share climbs “just a tiny bit” from 22 to about 25%, Pouyanné admits. Sympathy as a bonus, he says. One would think one was hearing a shopkeeper proud of his sale window display. The cost? The CEO now estimates it at between 250 and 300 million euros. In June, before lawmakers, he spoke of 200 million. Approximate calculation, he specifies, without a “precise account.” A shortfall on the distribution margin, financed by the group’s integrated model – from well to pump – and by results that, let’s admit it, do not appear to be suffering. In the second quarter of 2026, net profit doubled to 5.4 billion dollars. Adjusted net income at 6 billion. First half: more than 11 billion. The conflict boosted prices and refining margins. TotalEnergies captures the rise while offering a partial shield to its French customers. Generous? Calculated? Both, no doubt. Fellow oil companies “look at me strangely,” the boss boasts. They don’t cap prices, them. There’s the skeleton of the facts, cross-checked against primary sources: France Inter interview, TotalEnergies press releases, financial results of July 23, AFP coverage and reference titles. What is false? Nothing in the statement itself. What is incomplete: the cap applies only to the TotalEnergies network, not to all of France. Competing stations sell at market price. And the “for as long as the conflict lasts” remains a company promise, revocable. Pouyanné has already modulated it according to lulls. As for the tax on windfall profits, it does not yet exist in France in this form; the European and national debate is rumbling, the left is calling for it, the government is hesitating. The CEO responds with polite blackmail: you can’t take the same money from us twice. A fine posture from one who has the means to be generous… as long as one doesn’t ask him to be too much so. Blind spots? We don’t know the exact detail of the calculation of the 250-300 million. We don’t know how long the conflict will really last – Hormuz remains a diplomatic and military minefield. We don’t know whether the gesture truly curbs inflation at the pump or whether it mainly serves as brand image in a period of record profits. Volumes have increased, lines too: the customer votes with their tank. And while the CEO talks about protecting purchasing power, the barrel remains well above pre-crisis levels. Provisional conclusion, then: the statement is accurate, dated, sourced. TotalEnergies is voluntarily maintaining its cap for as long as the guns roar in the Middle East, and says so loudly. The cost is real but derisory in the face of the billions raked in thanks to the same storm. The threat to stop everything in the event of a tax is just as clear. The buzz balloon deflates a little: this is neither a state gift nor pure charity. It is a corporate choice that protects the customer… and tends to its reputation. For as long as it lasts. After the noise, there remains the full tank, the receipt, and this strange equation where the oil that is blazing finances the safety net of the one who sells it.