The French government has issued a requisition order against the strikers at the TotalEnergies refinery in Normandy. The situation is critical, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition, which fears a shortage of kerosene for the Paris airports. Airlines have been warned for several days that kerosene reserves at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports are“under strain“. This is in addition to the growing shortage of gasoline and diesel at gas stations across the country.
According to Charles Amyot, CEO of Esso France, the problem is primarily logistical, in terms of supplying refineries with crude oil, as some ports are blocked, and in terms of gasoline deliveries to stations. For the time being, the strikers at the Normandy refinery have refused to take over, thus avoiding the letters of requisition that would force them to return to work. Concerning the teams on duty, the prefect cannot requisition them, because they can no longer carry out shipments beyond 12 hours of work, for security reasons.
The TotalEnergies refinery in Normandy is on the same pipelines as the CIM (Compagnie Industrielle Maritime) in Le Havre and the nearby Esso-ExxonMobil refinery in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon, which supply the Paris airports. Shipments of fuel from the Esso refinery are also blocked, according to the CGT. For the union, the State wishes to attack a “symbol”, that of the first refinery to have stopped production, and thus “break the strike movement”.
The government is closely monitoring the situation and is intervening in a targeted manner to unblock depots obstructed by the protesters. For the first time, he requisitioned three employees from the Esso refinery in Fos-sur-Mer to relieve the stations in the south of the country. For the TotalEnergies site at Gonfreville-L’Orcher, the prefecture did not send police officers to the employees’ homes to hand over the requisition letters, but it did send a bailiff to the site on Wednesday evening, according to Alexis Antonioli, CGT general secretary of the refinery.
The fuel shortage in France is expected to continue in the coming days, with potential consequences on air transport. The French authorities call on airlines and users to be responsible and take precautions.
