France: Protests against pensions block oil refineries
A nationwide strike in France over a proposed pension reform halted the shipment of fuel from refineries and a TotalEnergies depot on Tuesday, the French energy multinational told Reuters .
Workers and white collar workers from various sectors, including the energy sector, civil servants and teachers, have been on strike for weeks to protest President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the retirement age.
Workers at the Donges and Feyzin oil refineries, run by TotalEnergies, are on strike today, a representative of the Force Ouvriere union told Reuters. Workers at the Flandres fuel depot have also joined the massive industrial action in France, the official added.
It's not the first time fuel supplies have been disrupted by strikes this year. Two weeks ago, strike action in France halted bulk fuel deliveries from three refineries operated by TotalEnergies, on the first day of a series of planned nationwide strikes across many sectors. TotalEnergies' Donges, Normandy and Feyzin refineries halted their bulk supply of petrol and diesel, while the Feyzin refinery had to cut processing rates to a minimum on January 19.
TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil's French unit own most of the refining capacity in France. Strikes against Macron's unpopular pension reform are expected to continue, in a French tradition of tough opposition.
The latest wave of strikes comes three months after refinery workers went on strike for weeks in September and October over wages. In the fall of 2022, strikes at French refineries knocked out more than 60% of the country's refining capacity, while service stations in and around Paris and in the northern part of the country started to run out of fuel.
The strikes against the planned pension reform come just as the EU banned imports of petroleum products from Russia from 5 February. All of this risks having a multiplier effect of any changes in fuel prices.
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The article France: Protests against pensions block oil refineries comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/francia-le-proteste-contro-le-pensioni-bloccano-le-raffinerie-di-petrolio/ on Wed, 08 Feb 2023 11:00:27 +0000.