In order not to see the long queues of last fall in front of service stations, the government is taking the lead. As the social movement against the pension reform intensifies, he announced this Tuesday morning the first requisitions of essential personnel in the Fos-sur-Mer oil depot, near Marseille.
“The requisition is valid for 48 hours, starting March 21. It concerns three employees per shift (5 a.m. to 12 p.m.; 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.; 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.), “said the Ministry of Energy Transition. This fuel depot supplies the PACA region and the east of the Occitanie region. “It also provides shipments by pipeline to the Lyon region,” adds the ministry.
Since the start of the mobilizations, the government has also punctually drawn “in a targeted manner” from strategic stocks “everywhere on the territory” since “beginning of March”. The announcement comes in a tense political context, the day after the adoption of the pension reform in Parliament, and on the eve of an interview with President Emmanuel Macron on TF1 and France 2.
12% short gas stations
Half of the Bouches-du-Rhône service stations lack a type of fuel on Monday, and 41% are dry, according to public data analyzed by AFP. The shortages particularly affect Gard and Vaucluse, where the prefectures have decided to limit fuel sales, until Thursday inclusive, to 30 liters per vehicle.
At the national level, around 12% of service stations in France were out of petrol or diesel, and 6% were dry. The lack of fuel also affects some western departments, such as Loire-Atlantique or Ille-et-Vilaine.
For its part, TotalEnergies indicates that “of the 298 operators posted this morning, 36% were on strike […], i.e. 106 people”. “It is indeed the operators on the first quarter of the day, and not all the employees of the refineries”, specified the French oil company.
Avoid precautionary purchases
Beyond the fuel depots, the government unblocked the Donges oil terminal (Loire-Atlantique) overnight from Monday to Tuesday, which had been occupied for a week by strikers. The operation was carried out “to facilitate the unloading of a cargo of diesel”.
“There is no risk of a fuel shortage at the national level because the stocks, in the mesh depots, are at their maximum”, indicates to “Echos” the president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip) , Olivier Gantois. However, according to him, only a dozen of these deposits out of the 200 which mesh the territory are currently blocked.
“If there is no precautionary purchase, petrol stations will be able to meet normal demand because the supply by tankers is proceeding normally,” he adds. He therefore invites customers who only fill up once a month, for example, and who can wait two or three weeks not to rush to the stations. There will be fuel by then, he assures.
