Nearly three weeks of strikes continue to hit French refining (updated)

Fluxys Belgium SA

27/03/2023 17:29

(Adds other refineries, LNG terminals)
    By Forrest Crellin
       PARIS, March 27 (Reuters) - The industrial action
against the French government's pension reforms stretched into
its 20th day on Monday, as at least six out of seven refineries
in France were shut or functioning at reduced capacity and
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals were blocked.
        Production has been shuttered at TotalEnergies'
 TTEF.PA  Gonfreville refinery and Exxon Mobil  XOM.N 
subsidiary Esso's Port Jerome-Gravenchon refinery due to the
strikes, while two others are operating at reduced capacity and
two more are offline for repairs.
        A spokesperson for Petroineos, which operates the
seventh French refinery in Lavera, said they had no information
on if production was disrupted at their site.
    The action is part of a nationwide movement against pension
system changes championed by President Emmanuel Macron that
include increasing the retirement age by two years to 64. 
        Last week, hundreds of thousands of angry protesters -
including various labour unions - poured out in to the streets
marching against the plan they say is being imposed on them by
the government. 
  
        Both the Gonfreville and Port-Jerome refineries, located
in northern France, can produce about 240,000 barrels-per-day
(bpd), the biggest in the country, and supply the Ile-de-France
region, where the capital city Paris is located.
        The Gonfreville refinery produces the aviation kerosene
fuel used by local airports, which have reported difficulties in
recent weeks due to a lack of supply.
    The civil aviation authority said in a post on Twitter air
traffic would be disrupted from Monday until early on Thursday
at Paris Orly, Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse airports. 
    An Esso spokesperson said Friday the company had been forced
to halt production at their Port Jerome refinery following the
complete blockage of crude deliveries from the Le Havre terminal
that started March 20.
    The refinery is expected to return to production as soon as
supply resumes from Le Havre and the strike has ceased. However,
the restart for the port Jerome refinery will take several
weeks, they added.
    A CGT union spokesperson - which represents workers at
various refineries - said that the strike was renewed at both
Esso's Fos and Port Jerome sites until Wednesday, and that
deliveries from the Fos refinery were blocked and production was
reduced.
    Force majeure was declared at the Dunkirk LNG terminal,
which is set to see renewed disruptions from Tuesday morning to
Wednesday morning, as delivery capacity reduced to 70
gigawatt-hours per day (GWh/d), operator Fluxys  FLUX.BY  said.
    The duration of the strike will be decided tomorrow, CGT
representative Frederic Ben told Reuters.
    The three other French LNG terminals operated by Engie
 ENGIE.PA  subsidiary Elengy have been blocked by the strike
since March 7.

 (Reporting by Forrest Crellin, America Hernandez and Silvia
Aloisi; Editing by Jan Harvey and Aurora Ellis)
 ((Forrest.Crellin@thomsonreuters.com;))