Gas pumps are running dry in France as striking energy workers disrupt deliveries. As frustration mounts among motorists, businesses and beyond, President Emmanuel Macron has called for calm.
A line hundreds of meters long formed in front of a gas station in a suburb of Paris on Friday morning.
“We’ve been waiting for an hour,” said a driver whose car had already run empty. “The queue didn’t move at all. I don’t know what to do.”
Another driver joined the line of vehicles after trying two other stations, one directly across from it. “I got there at the same time as everyone else, then the signs showed there was no gas left,” she said.
Fuel shortages are hitting petrol stations across France, causing frustration and long waits for motorists, while a strike by workers at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil enters its 12th day.
Three out of six refineries are currently closed in France due to workers’ strikes that have reduced production by 60%, equivalent to 740,000 barrels of gasoline per day. The majority of TotalEnergies’ network of around 3,500 filling stations – almost a third of all filling stations in the country – is running out.
Government figures estimate that only 19% of service stations will be affected, with particular bottlenecks in the north. But the president of retail chain Système U, Dominique Schelcher, told FranceInfo radio that the government figure underestimated the disruption.
“Only the west [of France] will have fuel stocks,” he said, adding that it was “impossible” to order fuel in northern, eastern and southern France for this weekend.
The bottlenecks have not only caused frustration for individual drivers, but have also thrown businesses – including delivery services, medical aid, logistics chains and taxi companies – into chaos.
“What worries me is [what will happen to] People with disabilities because we risk not being there for them if this continues,” said a taxi driver waiting at a gas pump in Paris. “I only have half my reserve tank left.”
“Nothing can get out”
French trade union CGT called a strike against TotalEnergies over a week ago as part of a broader action across the French energy sector.
Workers are demanding pay rises amid a cost of living crisis and rising profits in the energy industry.
In the second quarter of 2022, TotalEnergies reported profits of $5.7 billion compared to $2.2 million for the same period in 2021.
CGT has called for a tax on those profits and a 10% pay rise – 7% to fight inflation and 3% “profit sharing”, demands widely supported by energy workers.
Production continued at the TotalEnergies refinery in Feyzin near Lyon, but deliveries had stalled.
CGT representative Pedro Afonso told AFP that “100% of the dispatchers for the 6 o’clock shift went on strike,” adding: “Normally every day there are 250 to 300 trucks and 30 to 50 rail cars. Nothing can get out now.”
About 70% of ExxonMobil workers are also on strike, said CGT representative Christophe Aubert. “It’s the same workforce working shifts all weekend, so nothing will move and nothing will come out.”
The strikes were originally supposed to last three days, but nearly two weeks later, TotalEnergies is still insisting wage negotiations begin as planned in mid-November with an expected average pay rise of 3.5%.
TotalEnergies has downplayed the impact of its workers’ strike, instead claiming that supplies are under pressure due to the popularity of the company’s discounted fuel prices in recent months.
Demand at TotalEnergies filling stations has increased by an estimated 30 percent as customers have taken advantage of discounts offered by the company in the face of rising fuel costs.
“Let’s not panic”
As frustration mounts for striking energy workers and motorists, so does the stakes for the French government.
“Don’t panic,” President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday as he called for calm on all sides. But even as the president called for an end to the strikes, he agreed that Total executives should consider their workers’ “legitimate wage demands.”
Their demands come amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis. In the same press conference, the President warned of difficult months ahead for gas prices as food costs are expected to continue rising.
Negotiations between the French government and unions, including CGT, over pension reforms are also likely to create tension in the coming months.
But petrol in particular occupies a special place in the French psyche. “Fuel prices are synonymous with the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protesters,” said Paul Smith, associate professor of French politics at the University of Nottingham.
“The current situation is worrying [the government] as a foretaste of troubles to come – a possible winter of dissatisfaction.”
The Yellow Vests protest movement, sparked by rising fuel prices in the winter of 2018, saw thousands take to the streets for weeks in a gesture of defiance against the authorities and President Macron.
>> For France’s yellow vest demonstrators, the fight goes on
When government spokesman Olivier Véran pointed to a petrol shortage on Wednesday, instead citing “temporary tensions” affecting supplies, the government is taking extra measures to ensure petrol reaches pumps.
Fuel tankers are exceptionally allowed to operate on Sundays for deliveries and the government has used its strategic fuel reserves to supplement available stocks.
Fuel stocks are currently in place for 90 days, Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said.
In the meantime, attempts are also being made to start talks between CGT and TotalEnergies – so far without success.
Further strike actions are expected in the coming days.