On the eve of the 11th day of mobilization once morest the pension reform, and as the Easter weekend approaches, some motorists are worried regarding potential fuel shortages in France.
Is the Easter weekend likely to be disrupted due to fuel shortages? On the eve of the eleventh day of mobilization once morest the pension reform, the situation remains tense concerning the supply of fuel in certain service stations, in particular in Île-de-France.
At the start of the week, according to government data, around 10% of service stations were experiencing a shortage of at least one fuel, and the departments of Île-de-France are the first to suffer, in particular Hauts-de-France. -Seine and Val-de-Marne, with 41% of stations in difficulty on Tuesday.
Tensions are particularly focused on unleaded, because of the priority given by the government to the delivery of kerosene to supply Paris airports. Indre-et-Loire is also particularly affected by fuel shortages, with nearly 40% of stations in difficulty on Tuesday April 4.
New requisitions
To improve the situation and avoid more serious shortages during the Easter weekend, the government has decided to requisition new strikers in the oil industry. Requisitions are underway, in particular at the TotalEnergies refinery in Gonfreville-L’Orcher, in Seine-Maritime. It is the largest refinery in the country, “which has been shipping fuel in the Le Havre-Paris pipeline to Ile-de-France and Center-Val de Loire since yesterday morning (Monday), thanks to the requisition of a few people per shift (3 to 4 maximum)”, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
In addition, the oil group Esso-ExxonMobil announced Tuesday, April 4 the restart of production at its refinery in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon. It was shut down on March 25 for lack of crude oil to be refined due to the strike at the oil terminal in Le Havre once morest the pension reform. If the strike is renewed until Thursday April 6, a new national day of mobilization once morest the pension reform, the strikers signed last week, with the management, a protocol providing for the release of 43 million liters of fuel from the filled bins. to the brim, in particular to supply petrol stations in Île-de-France.
Olivier Gantois, president of Ufip, the union of oil companies, declared at the start of the week that the situation “will improve markedly during the week”, particularly in the Paris region. However, it will be necessary to wait for the end of the strikes and the release of all depots and refineries before a return to normal.
