VIDEO. What are the causes of the current shortages?

Right now, and across the country, service stations are facing fuel shortages. Nearly a third of them would currently be dry on at least one fuel. Here, workers at the refineries and depots of TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil decided to begin a series of strikes several days ago to demand an increase in their wages in a context of inflation. But in recent months, this is not the only shortage that France has suffered. Bus and coach drivers, mustard, sunflower oil, electricity… Discover the other reasons for the shortages affecting France.

Using a single word for different causes can cause some confusion since the reasons for these “shortages” are not always the same. For gas, for example, the war in Ukraine has contributed to creating a shortage. Before the war, Russia supplied 19% of the European Union’s gas consumption. Gradually, it stopped its gas deliveries via pipeline. Result: France sought other suppliers and favored liquefied natural gas or LNG. Today, gas stocks in France are more than 99% full and represent two-thirds of the consumption of SMEs and individuals in winter. In this context, the French government has called for sobriety in the context of a climate emergency, the primary reason for which is the use of fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil.