French unions started a four-day strike and blockades at oil refineries on Tuesday to force the government to drop pension reform plans. Since early December, unions have been trying to halt refineries, impacting the French oil sector.
For the January 7-10 strike, Total said it was fully prepared. At its petrol stations, there is no risk of shortages. Less than 5 percent of Total’s workers at the refineries were on strike. Total’s five sites (Normandie, Donges, La Mède, Feyzin, and Grandpuits) were in operation and storing output.
Total operates 3,500 petrol stations from about 11,000 stations in the country. Total only had 26 run-out-of-fuel stations on Tuesday.
On Tuesday at Marseille refinery, a limited number of Exxon’s employees have joined the strike. The refinery continued to operate safely at a normal throughput even though product loading was disrupted.
Even though workers had joined the protest at Exxon’s Gravenchon, there was no impact on production. With half held as refined fuel and half as crude, France has oil stocks equivalent to 3 months of consumption.
