Production at the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy, with a capacity of 240,000 barrels per day (bpd), remained halted on Thursday, with deliveries also blocked at the site, said CGT union delegate Thierry Defresne.
He added that a possible continuation of the strike on the site will be decided this evening.
The cessation of activity will further weigh on the supply of refined products in France, with more than 60% of the country’s refining capacity – or 740,000 bpd – now out of service, according to Reuters calculations.
Six other TotalEnergies refining and distribution sites were also affected, according to a union memo seen by Reuters.
TotalEnergies said on Wednesday that it had anticipated measures to guarantee the supply of its network of service stations.
In addition, two Exxon Mobil refineries have also faced walkouts and disruptions.
“There is still no end to the strike in sight,” CGT ExxonMobil wrote on its Twitter page.
Exxon Mobil has been forced to limit the supply of refined products to customers under its supply contracts, a spokesman for the company told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Port-Jrme-Gravenchon oil refinery (240,000 barrels per day (bpd)), the Notre Dame de Gravenchon petrochemical site and the Fos-Sur-Mer refinery (140,000 bpd) were shut down last week.
The refinery strike is part of a national movement launched Thursday in France by several hard-left unions demanding higher wages as inflation rises in Europe.
Outages in the refining sector in France are creating a level of uncertainty in the refined oil trade amid a strong oil refinery overhaul season in Europe this fall.
A European trader said that while the market has integrated and to a large extent been prepared for planned outages, it is unplanned outages that could cause problems in the petroleum products market.
“The problem is unexpected blackouts like the French strikes,” he said.
Benchmark European diesel profit margins hit a two-week high of around $50 a barrel on Wednesday, according to Reuters valuations, as a result of the French strikes.