The hydrocarbon giant TotalEnergies was forced to start shutting down Wednesday the Normandy refinery near Le Havre, the largest in France, as a result of a strike for purchasing power called by the CGT, sources said.
This shutdown “for safety reasons”, is “not yet effective because it requires several days”, said TotalEnergies.
According to the oil group, it does not jeopardize the supply of service stations in the short term, even if it represents some 22% of refining capacity in France, according to data from the Ufip (oil groups).
The group said it has imported and has stocks “that can last between 20 days and a month”, in addition to the strategic stocks held by France. France usually imports about 50% of its diesel needs but exports gasoline.
“The discontent is so strong in Normandy, that the strikers have demanded this morning the shutdown procedures of the largest refinery in France,” said Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the European works council TotalEnergies SE to AFP.
“We are in the long term: a refinery, to stop it, it takes five days, to restart it takes about the same, so we leave minimum on ten days without production of refining and petrochemicals, we will largely exceed the day of September 29, “said Defresne.
The strike at TotalEnergies’ French refineries, which began on Tuesday, is scheduled to last at least until Thursday, a national day of action in all economic sectors, called by the CGT and Solidaires.
If the Normandy refinery were to be shut down, there would be only two refineries in operation out of the six in France, the others being affected by strikes or shut down for work or maintenance operations, according to the CGT.
The TotalEnergies refinery in Donges (Loire-Atlantique) and the PetroIneos refinery in Lavera (Bouches-du-Rhône) would therefore be the only ones running, according to the CGT.
On Tuesday, the strikers agreed to take their shifts on the condition that no product would be delivered. The management was forced to accept the strikers’ request to stop working, so that they could come and relieve the teams inside “and continue to run the machines and ensure safety and environmental protection”, said Mr. Defresne.
The CGT is demanding a 10% pay rise for 2022, the “freeing up of recruitment” in France and “a massive investment plan” in France, demands that have already led to movements on June 24 and July 28.
