PARIS (Reuters) -Some fuel stations along France’s borders have run dry on the ninth day of strikes that have disrupted TotalEnergies’ refining and delivery of oil products.
About 12% of service stations are experiencing some shortages, with the number in the northern Hauts-de-France region at 30%, government spokesperson Olivier Veran said.
The Hauts-de-France region also announced it was banning the sale of petrol and diesel in jerry cans and other portable containers, expanding the area from the initial announcement in the Pas-de-Calais department.
The UFIP petroleum industry body said problems at service stations were due to logistics and not insufficient supplies.
“The situation is tensed but there is currently no shortages in supply due to the strikes,” a spokesperson said.
A walkout by hard-left CGT trade union members at TotalEnergies has disrupted operations at two refineries and two storage facilities, while two Exxon Mobil refineries have faced similar problems since Sept. 20.
The action remains the same as previous days, CGT spokesperson Thierry Defresne said, while adding the strike at TotalEnergies’ Feyzin refinery – which had allowed a few deliveries through on Tuesday – had tightened again.
However, TotalEnergies said repair works were currently underway at the 119,000 barrel per day refinery in southern France and only the loading and unloading of fuel was affected.
The trade union is demanding a 10% salary increase to help catch up with soaring inflation, a massive investment plan and the hiring of temporary workers, Defresne said.
So far, management is refusing a catch-up salary increase for 2022, and only wants to negotiate 2023 wages, he added.
The UFIP has previously said France has enough strategic reserves of oil products to cover average demand for about three months. TotalEnergies has said it has increased imports and has additional stocks “that could last between 20 days and a month.”
Outages in France’s refining sector are creating uncertainty in the refined oil trade amid a heavy oil refinery maintenance season in Europe this autumn.
(Reporting by Forrest CrellinAdditional reporting by Pascal Rossignol and Gus TrompizEditing by Louise Heavens, Mark Potter and David Evans)
