Fuel shipments are blocked at the exit of “all refineries” in France on Tuesday morning, in order to protest against the government’s pension reform project, the CGT-Chemistry told AFP.
Questioned by AFP, the management of TotalEnergies confirmed that fuel shipments are blocked at the exit of all its refineries.
According to Eric Sellini, national elected representative of the CGT-Chimie, the refineries of TotalEnergies, Esso-ExxonMobil and Petroineos are affected by this social movement.
“The strike started everywhere, (…) with very variable proportions of strikers according to the sites, but with shipments blocked at the exit of all the refineries this morning”, declared Mr. Sellini.
“There are no more shipments of products from French refineries,” he insisted, referring to feedback from the field.
The management of TotalEnergies had indicated on Monday that there was at this stage “no shortage of fuel” in its stations, adding that “stocks in depots and service stations are at a high level”. It also ensured that its teams were mobilized to meet a demand that could be more sustained than usual, with additional logistical resources if necessary.
In addition to the depots located in refineries, France has 200 depots which make it possible to supply the networks of all fuel distribution brands, according to Ufip, spokesperson for oil companies.
Regarding TotalEnergies, the Normandy refinery, the largest in France, had 75% of strikers among the morning operators, the La Mède biorefinery (Bouches-du-Rhône) 90% while that of Donges (Loire-Atlantique) voted to strike for a week, again according to Mr. Sellini.
The Esso-ExxonMobil refinery in Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime) had only 40% strikers but enough to block fuel shipments, he added.
At the TotalEnergies depot in Madryck, near Dunkirk, “100% of the posted staff is on strike”, said FO, shipments being “totally blocked”. The strike should continue “until noon tomorrow logically”, he added.