The strikes that hit several French refineries and fuel depots were renewed this Sunday at TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil, interrupting fuel supply to gas stations for several days.
Gasoline, the rare gold of the last days for motorists. Indeed, since the end of September, several refineries and fuel depots have gone on strike as their employees demand a general wage increase. This Sunday, the strike movement was renewed at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil, the CGT said.
For example, according to the CGT, three of the six French refineries are still closed, including the largest refinery of TotalEnergies in Normandy, as well as the two French refineries of the American Esso-ExxonMobil.
“The movement has been renewed everywhere,” said Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator at TotalEnergies, “in the absence of a response from the general management” to the open letter sent Saturday to Patrick Pouyanné, the group’s CEO.
While many gas stations still have supply problems, the energy giant’s union CGT had proposed to start negotiations on Monday to limit its demands to the issue of a pay rise. Since then, “it has been radio silence,” according to the CGT coordinator.
Delivery issues
At the French energy company, in addition to its refinery in Normandy, strikers have been mobilized en masse in recent days in the fuel depot of Flanders, near Dunkirk (North), at the “biorefinery” La Mède in the Bouches-du-Rhône and especially at the fuel depot Grandpuits. (Seine-et-Marne) to limit the outflow of petroleum products as much as possible, according to the CGT.
These pickets have logically led to a drop in fuel deliveries, leaving a large number of filling stations unable to supply themselves with petrol or diesel. According to several ministers, about 15% of French service stations are without one or more fuels.
TotalEnergies, which manages almost a third of French stations, nevertheless puts the phenomenon into perspective and explains that the failures were also due to the success of the 20 cent pump discount that the group has been granting since 1 September in addition to the 30 cent discount.