PETROL SHORTAGE. Is the end of the fuel shortage coming soon? Why is there no more gasoline at Total? We take stock of the latest news and the map to find gasoline and diesel near you.
[Updated October 9, 2022 at 10:27 a.m.] On Sunday October 9, 2022, the fuel shortage continues in France. The day before, Saturday, 20.7% of service stations were struggling to refuel, according to the latest figures released by the government. This is why several prefectures have decided to take measures so that health professionals, in particular, do not run out of fuel and can provide assistance. The prefecture of Oise, for example, has decided to prohibit the sale of gasoline in cans or jerry cans. It specifies: “Petrol station operators will set up priority access for the benefit of medical, paramedical and medico-social personnel with a professional card or a certificate from their employer.” In Seine-Saint-Denis, the decision not to authorize the sale of fuel in containers.
Can we hope for an end to the fuel shortage soon? The government tries to reassure. While the French fear fuel shortages and that, on Friday, one in five service stations encountered supply difficulties, members of the executive are increasing their outings in the media to explain to motorists the good behavior to adopt. This is particularly the case of the Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu, interviewed by Franceinfo: “There is a subject, it is not to end up with a movement of panic which means that motorists tell themselves that, since there will be a shortage, they rush to the stations when they are open”, he explained, Saturday, October 8.
On the side, health professionals, we are sounding the alarm. “We are encountering big problems everywhere in France. We are forced to optimize our rounds, even if it means eliminating the least urgent appointments”, explains to the Parisian, John Pinte, president of the National Union of Liberal Nurses (Sniil ). Likewise, Serge Smadja, Secretary General of SOS Médecin, is worried: “The situation is very tense. We manage to continue working, but local difficulties can appear when the doctors have nothing left in the tank and have to scramble to find an open station.”
To deal with these difficulties, measures have been announced, including the authorization to circulate tanker trucks this Sunday, October 9. “We are in the process of improving the situation, it will take two or three days a priori. On the basis of what the tankers can repatriate from Belgium and from Rouen, and to facilitate things we are releasing part of our stocks strategic”, had already assured Thursday evening on BFMTV the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Resulting from the economic situation between the discount at the pump of 20 cents per liter in TotalEnergies service stations and a strike movement within the company to demand a wage increase which is entering its second week, the fuel shortage has bogged down in places.
Gradually, the situation became tense in several regions. In Ile de France or the Bouches du Rhône quickly affected at the approach of last weekend, was added the Hauts-de-France, particularly in Nord-Pas de Calais. The giant’s communication assures “that there is no shortage of fuel, because TotalEnergies has built up stocks and is currently importing regularly”. The group also explains that since the beginning of September, service stations have experienced “a significant influx within [their] network of stations (about 30%)”. There remains one final solution, already adopted by many motorists in recent days: turn to competitors and other fuel suppliers, even if it means paying more.
Several solutions exist to find out where to refuel and which stations are out of stock. First of all, the Mon Essence application offers a statement based on feedback from users who report dry stations. The project is 100% collaborative.
You can also find a map of French service stations below. This is the “instant feed” of fuel prices in France, provided by the Ministry of the Economy and available here on the official website: https://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/
You will find above a list published based on feedback from users of the app and the Mon Essence.fr website.
A map published based on feedback from users of the Mon Essence.fr app and website and centered on Marseille is available above.
A map published based on feedback from users of the Mon Essence.fr app and website and centered on Lyon is available above.
