Under the influence of the ongoing strike at several refineries
TotalEnergies in the country and the attractiveness of the discount of 20 euro cents per liter of fuel at Total stations, many gas pumps are still dry this Friday morning.
On the territory, 15% of service stations are affected by the rupture of at least one fuel, indicated the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher Thursday evening on BFM TV.
But significant regional disparities exist, and the North
and the east of the country are particularly affected. “We are talking about a situation that concerns 15% of service stations”said the minister.
Diversified supplies, an improvement “in two, three days”
“We are in the process of strengthening oil supplies from Belgium and from Rouen, by boat”, added the minister. “In addition, we have effectively freed up some strategic stocks to support oil tankers more quickly”, she explained, adding that the improvement in the situation “Will take two, three days a priori”.
Most Total stations out of stock
Contacted by AFP, the management of the TotalEnergies group indicated that “the situation is stable”. TotalEnergies, which manages nearly one in three service stations in France, refuses to communicate the number of dry stations, but his online map shows that most of its 3,500 outlets lack one or more fuels.
Strike at refineries continues
“Each of the sites informed us of the renewal of the strike”, told AFP Thierry Defresne, the CGT secretary of the European works council TotalEnergies SE. The Normandy refinery, at a standstill, is still on strike, just like the “bio-refinery” of La Mède in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and the fuel depot of Flanders, near Dunkirk, in the north. “The charging base is blocked” also in Grandpuits, in Seine-et-Marne, a site being converted into a “bio-refinery” which occasionally enters the movement. A strike also affects the two French refineries of Esso-ExxonMobil, also for salaries.
“It is stretched”
“It is stretched”, confirms Francis Pousse, the president of service stations and new energies within the professional union Mobiliance, which represents 5,800 traditional service stations (excluding mass distribution). If he points out that since the beginning of September, “Even before the disruption of the industrial tool, the stations of the French oil company were in tension”he adds that“a reorganization of logistics” is now necessary because of the conflict, creating “a much longer station supply time”. “We are not in shortage, since we have plans B”, with the import of products which has been “reinforced”, he tempers.