“The situation will improve this week”, promised motorists the Prime Minister Sunday, October 16 on TF1. But in the face of difficulties in getting to work, concern in rural areas in the midst of harvest and sowing, fear of disruptions in holiday departures and cancellations, the consequences of tensions in service stations on many sectors of activities are increasingly felt. Despite the signing of an agreement with the management of TotalEnergies and the threat of new requisitions, the strike in the refineries is renewed on Monday and is entering its third week.
>> Fuel shortage: follow the evolution of the situation live
Worse: the fuel shortage did not seem to be resolving on Sunday, the figures released on Sunday evening show a worsening of the situation for service stations: 30.1% were considered to be in difficulty against 27.3% the day before, due to fewer weekend deliveries, according to the government. A third of stations are therefore still short of at least one type of fuel nationwide. And general restocking will not happen in the short term.
The government has already played several cards to try to fill the tanks of the stations last week. He requisitioned employees, drew on the national stock, authorized fuel deliverers to drive during the weekend… “The effects of these measures take time”, assures Elisabeth Borne. In the Hauts-de-France, the stock of gasoline has risen a little thanks to the requisitions of the Dunkirk depot in just a few days, but the shortage has already resumed a little in magnitude this weekend.
Still, the situation has deteriorated in different places. In the Center region, between Saturday and Sunday, 7% more stations found themselves dry with at least one empty tank. Slight increase also in the Paris region with more than 40% of stations concerned. Elsewhere, where deliveries are almost assured, stocks are also falling. Motorists take more fuel than usual for fear of running out and truckers focus on these spared areas to refuel.
Faced with this blockage after nearly three weeks of strike, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne brandished the threat of new “requisitions“of employees in the event of”very tense situations”. On the set of TF1’s 8 p.m. television news, she raised her voice by asking the striking employees of TotalEnergies “to respect the majority agreement and not block the country with all the difficulties that this creates“Before her, it was Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts, who stepped up to the plate in the morning by judging”unacceptable that there is the continuation of blockages“.
Currently, the strikes concern three refineries (out of eight) and five large depots (out of approximately 200) and are more or less followed according to the sites of TotalEnergies, according to the government. These are those of Normandy (refinery and depot), Donges (refinery and depot), La Mède (biorefinery and depot), Flandres (depot) and Feyzin (depot, the refinery being shut down for technical reasons). Only one TotalEnergies depot, that of Flanders near Dunkirk, was the subject of a requisition launched Thursday by the government.