The oil group Esso-ExxonMobil announced Tuesday the restart of production at its refinery in Port-Jerome-Gravenchon, which was shut down on March 25 due to a lack of crude oil to refine because of the strike at the oil terminal in Le Havre against pension reform.
“The replenishment of our crude oil stocks and the confirmation of the suspension of the movement at the oil terminal in Le Havre allow us to have sufficient visibility to confirm the restart operations that were launched this afternoon,” the group’s management told AFP. The restarting of this refinery, which alone represents 20% of the refining capacity in France, launched “according to an orderly sequencing of units”, will require “several days before restoring normal production”, stressed the management.
The strike has been extended until Thursday, a national day of action against pension reform, but the strikers agreed last week to sign a protocol with management, which provides for the removal of 43 million liters of fuel from tanks filled to the brim, to supply service stations in the Ile-de-France.
In the same vein, the neighboring refinery of the TotalEnergies group, in Gonfreville-L’Orcher, the largest in France, has been the subject of government requisitions of employees and has been shipping fuel to the Ile-de-France since Monday morning. Most of the departments in the Paris region have seen a third of their service stations affected by shortages of super unleaded.
However, this refinery is the only one whose production is still stopped because of the strike, as other refineries are affected by technical problems or maintenance operations.
