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Factbox-Strikes knock already struggling French refined products sector
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on September 29, 2022
3 min readLast updated: February 4, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on September 29, 2022
3 min readLast updated: February 4, 2026
By Rowena Edwards and Forrest Crellin
(Reuters) -More than 60% of France’s refining capacity is off line as strikes over pay and unplanned maintenance pile pressure on the refined products sector.
The outages come as Europe looks to ease its dependence on Russian fuel.
Here are the oil companies and sites affected by strike action and outages:
EXXON MOBIL
French unions CGT and Force Ouvriere called for a strike on Sept. 20 following wage negotiations with Exxon Mobil related to rising inflation in Europe.
Strike action continued on Sept. 28 with wage discussions still underway, an Exxon Mobil spokesperson told Reuters.
“We have temporarily put limitations in place for customers in accordance with the terms of our supply contracts. We have a supply response team in place to supply product from unaffected sources,” the spokesperson said.”
PORT JEROME-GRAVENCHON
Exxon began gradually closing the 240,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refinery on Sept. 20, which was completed on the weekend of Sept. 24.
NOTRE DAME DE GRAVENCHON PETROCHEMICAL SITE
Exxon began closing the NGD petrochemical site on Sept. 20 as a result of strike action and completed the shutdown on the weekend of Sept. 24.
FOS-SUR-MER
Strike action spread to Exxon’s 140,000 bpd Fos-Sur-Mer refinery on Sept. 21, leading to a gradual shutdown of the plant, which was completed on the weekend of Sept. 24.
TERMINALS
Workers at Exxon’s Toulouse depot joined the strike on Sept. 22 but Exxon said that operations at its terminals have not been impacted.
TOTALENERGIES
French union CGT began a three-day strike over wages on Sept. 27 across TotalEnergies’ five French refineries, mainly hitting deliveries.
TotalEnergies said it had anticipated measures to guarantee supplies across its network of service stations.
GONFREVILLE
TotalEnergies is temporarily halting production at its 240,000 barrel-per-day Gonfreville refinery, the company said on Wednesday.
A possible continuation of the strike at the site will be decided on Thursday evening, CGT union delegate Thierry Defresne said.
DELIVERIES
Six TotalEnergies refining and distribution sites were impacted by strike action on Thursday, a memo from the union seen by Reuters showed.
No product was leaving Gonfreville, the 102,000 bpd Grandpuits refinery, the 119,000 bpd Feyzin oil refinery, the 230,000 bpd Donges refinery, or the La Mede biorefinery, the memo showed.
FEYZIN REFINERY
TotalEnergies’ 119,000 barrel per day (bpd) Feyzin oil refinery in southern France was taken offline on Sept. 16 after a leak at the fluid catalytic cracking unit.
The refinery is likely to remain closed for 4-6 weeks from that date, CGT union delegate Thierry Defresne said.
DEPOTS
Product transport from the Cote d’Opale fuel storage depots near Dunkirk has stopped since Sept. 27, CGT union delegate Thierry Defresne said.
(Reporting by Rowena Edwards in London and Forrest Crellin in Paris; Editing by Alexander Smith, Mark Potter and Kirsten Donovan)
A refinery is an industrial facility where crude oil is processed and transformed into usable products like gasoline, diesel, and other petrochemicals.
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power.
Refined products are fuels and other materials produced from the processing of crude oil, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
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