Factbox: French strikes hamper refining, LNG imports

North Atlantic Energies SA

20/03/2023 15:37

By Forrest Crellin
       PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) - French refineries and depots
have had deliveries blocked for nearly two weeks, creating a
backlog in storage and forcing companies to reduce production.
    Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals have also been
blocked, halting imports at three sites.
    The energy sector has been caught up in nationwide protests
over government plans to raise France's retirement age by two
years and other proposed changes.
    Here are the companies and sites affected:
    
    TOTALENERGIES  TTEF.PA 
    Strikes have stretched into a 13th day, blocking deliveries
of oil products from four TotalEnergies  TTEF.PA  refineries and
hitting output at two of them as storage fills.
    Production has been reduced at its 240,000 barrel-per-day
(bpd) Gonfreville refinery and its 119,000 bpd Feyzin oil
refinery in southern France, the company said.
    Its La Mede biorefinery, which can process 500,000 tonnes of
hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) per year, has been shut for
maintenance since last week. 
    Refining has been stopped for several weeks at the 230,000
bpd Donges refinery due to technical reasons, which a company
spokesperson previously attributed to a transformer.
        
    EXXONMOBIL  XOM.N 
    Strikes have also affected ExxonMobil  XOM.N  subsidiary
Esso's 140,000 bpd Fos refinery at Fos-sur-Mer where deliveries
have been disrupted since March 7.
    A strike resumed on March 18 at the 240,000 bpd Port
Jerome-Gravenchon in northern France, where deliveries are also
blocked.
    
    ENGIE  ENGIE.PA 
    Deliveries of LNG to Engie  ENGIE.PA  subsidiary Elengy's
three terminals have been blocked since March 7. The strike was
renewed on March 20 and will stretch until March 27, when
another general assembly will vote on a possible extension.
    
    FLUXYS  FLUX.BR 
    The Dunkirk terminal operated by Fluxys  FLUX.BR  returned
to operation on March 17 after being shuttered since March 7.
    A union representative said that a general assembly is
expected to vote on Monday (March 20) on whether to renew the
strike at the facility.

 (Reporting by Forrest Crellin; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((Forrest.Crellin@thomsonreuters.com;))