Strikes hit six oil refineries, two depots in France, CGT union says

Strikes hit six oil refineries, two depots in France, CGT union says
Copyright 
By Reuters
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

By Bate Felix

PARIS (Reuters) - French trade union CGT said on Thursday that a strike over wages and bonuses had hit output and deliveries at six out of France's seven oil refineries, as well as at two major depots.

CGT spokesman Thierry Defresne told Reuters that the two-day strike that started on Wednesday could be extended at some of the refineries on Thursday evening.

The unions are holding talks with the French oil sector employers federation UFIP over wages on Thursday.

Defresne said refineries affected by the strike included all four of Total's <TOTF.PA> refineries in France. The 253,000 barrel-per-day Gonfreville in Normandy, the 102,000 bpd Grandpuits site, the 220,000 bpd Donges refinery and the 109,000 bpd Feyzin refinery.

He said that strikes had also been declared at the Ineos refinery in Lavera and Exxon Mobil's Fos-sur-Mer plant, which are both in the south of France.

As of now, only one refinery in France, Exxon Mobil's 240,000 bpd Port-Jerome-Gravenchon refinery, was not affected by the strike, Defresne said.

A spokeswoman for Total said output and products deliveries at three of its four refineries and a depot were slightly impacted by the strike.

Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> said there was no production or delivery impact from the strike at its two refineries even though CGT had called for a strike. Ineos could not immediately be reached for comment.

Workers at France's CIM oil storage and dispatch services company, which handles supplies of crude to Total and Exxon's refineries in the north of France, walked out in solidarity with the striking workers earlier on Thursday, CIM's head Olivier Peyrin said.

He said work was expected to resume at the terminal around 1800 GMT.

(Reporting by Bate Felix ; Editing by Matthias Blamont and Jane Merriman)

Share this articleComments

You might also like