Oil exports between the USA and France have been eliminated. The fault lies with the strikes
Crude oil exports from the US to France dropped to zero for the first time in four years, Bloomberg reported, citing union actions at French refineries that have now spread to other sectors as well.
Citing oil tanker tracking data, the report says no US crude has been shipped across the Atlantic to France since early October. The flows were instead diverted to Denmark and Italy, according to Vortexa.
French refinery workers began striking more than three weeks ago, demanding higher wages in response to excessive inflation. Most of the unions involved in the industrial action eventually reached an agreement with Exxon and TotalEnergies, but a left-wing union continued to strike.
The strike caused severe fuel shortages across France and also spread to other sectors, including nuclear energy, where urgent maintenance work was delayed due to trade union action. Railway workers also called for a strike.
Refinery workers, meanwhile, received orders from the government earlier in the week to reenter one fuel depot and others may be requisitioned for another to alleviate the shortage.
Indeed, the latest update from the CGT union is that workers at two TotalEnergies sites have ended their strike, signaling a weakening of the moment that could lead to the end of shortages and the resumption of US oil flows to the country.
However, the return to normal will take time: Exxon said restarting its refineries in France after the union action ended earlier this month will take two to three weeks.
The strikes blocked about 70% of France's refining capacity and led to a shortage of fuel in different parts of the country, resulting in effective rationing: motorists could only refill their tanks if they were empty and with limited quantities of gasoline. .
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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The article The oil exports between the USA and France have been cleared. The fault lies with the strikes comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/azzerato-lexport-di-petrolio-fra-usa-e-francia-la-colpa-e-degli-scioperi/ on Fri, 21 Oct 2022 15:30:21 +0000.