The movement is hardening in the refineries. For the first time since the start of the strikes against the pension reform, service stations are dry. It is the double effect of a hardening of the blockages in the refineries and in the deposits. Fuel shipments from the former to the latter – these supplying the service stations at the end of the race – were already blocked at the weekend. The movement continues this Monday, March 20 since the refineries of TotalEnergies in Feyzin and Esso-ExxonMobil in Fos-sur-Mer have again stopped their shipments, and some fuel depots are also blocked by employees.
Production is also beginning to be impacted: in Donges for technical reasons but above all in Gonfreville-l’Orcher (TotalEnergies), the largest installation in the country, where activity was stopped due to the strike. Other sites are threatening to follow suit: the refineries of PétroIneos in Lavéra, TotalEnergies in Feyzin and Esso-ExxonMobil in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon. The Esso installation in Fos-sur-Mer is running “in slow motion”, according to the CGT.
Result: the situation at the pump deteriorated locally. It was particularly complicated this Monday morning in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where the head of a professional union deplored a “panic effect” created by a local union leader calling on citizens to refuel. The departments of Gard, Vaucluse, Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence were also affected, to a lesser extent for the last two.
The government, for its part, “will not hesitate” to carry out requisitions in the refineries if necessary, warned the Minister of Transport Clement Beaune. In the immediate future, the executive “takes anticipatory measures” with strategic stocks “at the highest level”, he added. But in the event of an extension of the movement, can we fear a shortage similar to last October? Some answers with Olivier Gantois, president of Ufip Energies et Mobilités, which represents companies in the oil sector.
L’Express: The social movement against the pension reform intensifies in some refineries and fuel depots. What are the consequences ?
Olivier Gantois: The situation is very scalable: from one site to another, one day there is an improvement and the next day a hardening. This morning, at the national level, there were 7% of service stations out of at least one product – I remind you that there is one station out of stock even if only one product is missing. It’s a little higher than normal. There was a slight degradation during the weekend, which is often the case since we cannot deliver the stations from Saturday noon.
But 7% is still a relatively low figure. About 200 deposits mesh the territory and only 5 to 8 were blocked this Monday morning. So the vast majority of them normally shipped fuel by tanker truck to service stations. In oil logistics as a whole, stocks were full at the beginning of March when the movement started. And when this is the case, we have three or four months’ supply depending on the depots. We have only partially started them.
So there is no risk of a shortage?
In the future I cannot say, but today, at the national level, no. It looks like some areas had an excess of out of stations because there was a blocked depot nearby, but there have been some unblockings in the meantime.
Since the beginning of this social movement, the same volume of fuel as usual has been delivered to the station. The regions that would be in tension are only so if there are precautionary purchases. It is very difficult to make people understand that it is by making a precautionary purchase that they are going to create a shortage. But it is a fact. As a reminder, in October 2022, we had a lot of stations out of stock, whereas we delivered 97% of the total volume transported in October 2021. So only 3% less, while nearly half of the stations were out of stock at a certain moment. This is proof that precautionary purchases have created the rupture. It will be the same today if people rush to the stations.
Does the stoppage of a refinery, which could cause oil stains, worry you more than the blockages of fuel shipments?
Not more than that because some units have restarted, because a shift team is on strike but the next one is not. The situation is extremely changing in each refinery, it is difficult to draw conclusions. We cannot say that there will be a lack of fuel at service stations because of the social movement. But again, there are also precautionary purchases to be reckoned with.