PETROL SHORTAGE. The fuel supply crisis is growing at Total and several service stations, particularly in Ile de France, are presenting dry fuel pumps to motorists. Here are some tips for finding fuel near you.
[Updated October 4, 2022 at 1:43 p.m.] No generalized shortage but major difficulties locally to find fuel, here is how to summarize the situation in gas stations in France this Tuesday, October 4, 2022. A strike movement affected several refineries last week and adds to an influx on Total fuel, offered at a lower price following the announcement of a 20 cent rebate on top of the 30 cent rebate put in place by the government. As a result, the tanker is experiencing supply difficulties at some stations.
On Monday, half of the TotalEnergies stations in and around Paris displayed dry pumps for diesel and gasoline. At the borders too, the situation is tense since RMC notes that the 8 Total stations in the Strasbourg agglomeration are out of stock. The cause ? The influx of border motorists, especially Germans, who come to take advantage of cheaper rates than at home. To know where to go, know that TotalEnergies has set up an interactive map, allowing you to know the fuels available in the different service stations.
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.
You can find below a map of French service stations. 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/
To find out the situation near you, you can also go to the government website https://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/ which provides a map of service stations in the area with the prices displayed. You can find it by clicking on the photo below.
This situation is in addition to that of supply difficulties in Total stations following the introduction in early September of the 20-cent discount. This is the case in the Oise where several stations of the group were reported to be dry on Monday September 26. The start of a strike movement in the refineries of Normandy or in that of Flanders (North) in the Hauts-de-France, augurs new problems. The strike that began on Monday at the Total Gonfreville-l’Orcher refinery near Le Havre could also have effects, as the strikers called on Wednesday to block the site.
“We can indeed fear the shortage. We have an extremely complicated refining situation, and not only linked to this strike, testified a CGT trade unionist, interviewed by Actu.fr. There was a fire last week on the refinery which already cut off all gasoline production. Two weeks ago, the mobilization against the requisitions on the firefighters of our site had already caused difficulties in the depots in a context of influx in the stations. Total Normandie goes beyond the region to Île-de-France. The Paris airports are also concerned. Esso is also on strike, it will be complicated…”.
On the side of Total, we were assured of being able to remedy the situation. “Regarding supply, it continues, knowing that we can overcome this situation in several ways: we are increasing fuel imports in France, we also have stocks from TotalEnergies which allow us to last between three weeks and a month. And we also have stocks called France’s strategic stocks which are there to last around three months. In terms of supply, there is no reason for us to run out of products in the coming days. .” The influx of motorists in the stations could change the situation…
