A blockage was lifted in a refinery in Normandy but the strike is renewed in the six other sites in mainland France. What about fuel deliveries?
[Updated March 10 at 8:57 a.m.] The strike movement remains in the majority in the refineries. If the Esso-ExxoMobil site in Port-Jérôme, in Normandy, has resumed normal activity after two days of blockage. This Friday, March 10, all the other refineries renewed the strike and all TotalEnergie sites are shut down. The fact remains that with the return to work of the employees of the Port-Jérôme site, it is one of the two large refineries in the Normandy region which is starting to produce and above all to deliver fuel again. Proof of the improvement in the situation: only five oil depots are blocked out of the 200 in France, they were nine at the start of the week according to Le Parisien. There is therefore no need to fear supply problems and rush to service stations to anticipate a possible shortage. The stocks are high enough and the relief ones have not been touched, the French will not run out of fuel in the days to come.
Total claimed to always have the necessary fuel at its service stations. Above all, if the refineries are blocked, this is not the case for all the oil depots in the country. Some are, as in Dunkirk, Ambès (near Bordeaux), but the movement has not yet extended to all of these intermediate platforms. Comings and goings to supply service stations are therefore possible, while stocks last. “As of today, there is plenty of fuel on the national territory” and “the service stations continue to be delivered normally”, indicates to AFP Francis Pousse, president of the professional union Mobilians representing 5,800 stations out of the approximately 10,000 in France.
The situation could therefore only worsen when the stocks of the oil depots run dry. At that time, they can only be resupplied once the refineries are unlocked. However, while not a single liter of fuel leaves the refineries, work has not completely ceased in the refineries. Fuel production continues, with on-site storage since reserves are available. Enough to get the supply machine back on the road quickly once the blockages are lifted.
