TotalEnergies strike: shutdown of the Normandy refinery, the largest in France


According to the oil group, this shutdown does not jeopardize the supply of service stations in the short term, even if it represents some 22% of refining capacity in France.

The hydrocarbon giant TotalEnergies was forced to start shutting down the Normandy refinery near Le Havre, the largest in France, on Wednesday, as a result of a strike for purchasing power at the call of the CGT, we learned from concordant sources.

This shutdownFor safety reasons», is «not yet effective because it requires several days“said TotalEnergies. According to the oil group, it does not jeopardize the supply of service stations in the short term, even if it represents some 22% of refining capacity in France, according to data from Ufip (oil groups).

“The grumbling is so strong”

The group indicated that it had made imports and had stocks “can last between 20 days and a month», in addition to the strategic stocks held by France. France usually imports about 50% of its diesel needs but exports gasoline. “The discontent is so strong in Normandy, that the strikers demanded this morning the shutdown procedures of the largest refinery in France“, told AFP Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the European works council TotalEnergies SE.

We are on the long term: a refinery, to shut it down, it takes five days, to restart it it takes roughly the same thing, so we start at least over ten days without production of refining and petrochemicals, we will largely exceed the day of September 29“, affirmed Thierry Defresne. This strike by the French refineries of TotalEnergies, which began on Tuesday, must last at least until Thursday, a day of national action in all economic sectors, at the call of the CGT and Solidaires.

In the event of an actual shutdown of the Normandy refinery, there would only be two refineries in operation out of the six still in France, the others also being affected by strikes, or shut down for works or maintenance, according to the CGT. The TotalEnergies refinery in Donges (Loire-Atlantique) and that of PetroIneos in Lavera (Bouches-du-Rhône) would therefore be the only ones to operate, according to the CGT.

On Tuesday, the strikers agreed to take their jobs on the condition that no product be delivered. The management was forced to accept the strikers’ request to stop, so that they come to relieve the teams inside “and continue to run the machinery and ensure safety and environmental protection“, specified Thierry Defresne. The CGT is calling for a salary increase of 10% for the year 2022, the “hiring freezein France anda massive investment planin France, demands already at the origin of movements on June 24 and July 28.



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