Workers end strike for three French refineries
Refinery workers have been on strike since October 12 over government plans, due to become law this week, to modify the national pension system and raise the retirement age. Finally after almost two weeks three refineries are seeing slight reprieve as workers at three of France’s twelve refineries have voted to end strikes after heeding government warnings over economy damage due to fuel shortages.
The first to see relief was the Reichstett refinery operated by Petroplus, which was voted by workers to restart production without delay. The Reichstett refinery has a capacity of 81,000 barrels per day (bpd) and is considering closing and converting into a simple fuel storage dump. This action is what prompted the workers to strike in opposition of the downgrade and not over pension reforms as their counterparts. The future of this refinery is still under negotiation.
Two refineries operated by Exxon Mobil, Fos-sur-Mer in the south of France and Gravenchon in the north were expected to vote to end their strike and reopen as soon as possible. Last week the 119,000 bpd Fos-sur-Mer refinery was running on limited crude, and Gravenchon refinery, which has a capacity of 233,000 bpd, was due to completely shutdown.
Currently the following refineries still remain off line:
• Total Donges refinery - 230,000 (bpd)
• Total Granpuits refinery -1 00,000 (bpd)
• Ineos Lavera refinery - 218,000 (bpd)
• Provence refinery - 160,000 (bpd)
• Total Gonfreville refinery - 218,000 (bpd)
• Petit Couronne refinery - 154,000 (bpd)
• Petroplus Cressier refinery - 68,000 (bpd)
Two refineries sustained partial production:
• Total Feyzin refinery - 117,000 (bpd)
• Lyondellbasell Berre l'étang refinery - 105,000 (bpd)
Still at the remaining nine refineries strike extensions are being planned and two more national days of protest have been set for October 28 and November 6. The government is taking action to avoid fuel shortages, and it is unknown how long the refineries will remain out of service.
Go to www.constructionboxscore.com for more information.
Sources:
"Status of Refineries in France Amid Ongoging Workers’ Strikes," Bloomberg. Oct. 21, 2010.
"Strikes end at three French refineries," PRESSTV. Oct. 25, 2010.
"Strike ends at one of 12 blocked French refineries: unions," Expatica.com. Oct. 25, 2010.
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