Every third French petrol station lacks fuel

Motorists in France must continue to adjust to scarce fuel at petrol stations. The strike at the TotalEnergies refineries has been extended until at least Tuesday, the television channel franceinfo reported. Accordingly, the strike is now to be extended to a further fifteen motorway service stations of a subsidiary of TotalEnergies.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on all sides to be responsible on Monday. "Blocking is not a negotiation path," he said on the sidelines of a press conference in Château-Gontier. According to information from the television station franceinfo, a meeting between Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and several department heads was scheduled for Monday.

The situation at the pumps remains critical. According to a situation report by the responsible ministry on Sunday, almost a third of the gas stations are missing at least one fuel.

And there is no end in sight to the strikes at the major refineries in France. The strike is now threatening the supply of petrol – almost a third of the gas stations in France are having problems with supplies, as the Ministry of Energy announced on Sunday. By the afternoon, 29.7 percent of gas stations had reported shortages of at least one type of gasoline. On Saturday it was still 21 percent. France has released more reserves and is increasing imports. Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher is quoted as saying in the statement that the situation should ease over the course of Monday.

A representative of the CTG union said the strikes were continuing everywhere. While talks with ExxonMobil have been going on for weeks, TotalEnergies has not yet succeeded in bringing management to the negotiating table.

Two ExxonMobil plants and two TotalEnergies plants are affected by the strike. Refineries' production has fallen more than 60 percent during the weeks-long walkout. The workers at Total are demanding a 10 percent wage increase. The high energy prices bring the group high profits, which prompted Total to pay out around eight billion euros in dividends and a special dividend to investors. CEO Patrick Pouyanne said last week that the time had come to reward the workers. He has so far refused to start salary negotiations.

The government is doing its best to resolve the conflict, Energy Minister Pannier-Runacher said on Saturday. Gasoline rationing is out of the question. "We're not at that point yet," said Environment Minister Christophe Bechu. He called on the population to remain calm. In some parts of France, however, there is already a ban on the sale of petrol in cans or similar containers.

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