Pressure On French Energy Sector Amid Strikes Eases

The pressure on the French energy sector has eased this week, as some port operations returned to delivery fuel, Exxon’s Gravenchon unit has restarted, and two French LNG terminals returned operational on Wednesday.

• Exxon Mobil’s 240kbpd Gravenchon Port Jerome refinery has restarted operations, but it will take several stays to restore normal production at the site. The rebuilding of stockpiles and the confirmation of the suspension of industrial action at the Le Havre terminal last week allowed the operator to restart the refinery, a spokeswomen said.
• Strikes at the Fos and Lavera oil terminals are ongoing with no scheduled end date, according to a port agent.
• Ineo’s 210kbpd Lavera refinery also restarted the crude unit on 2 April, but operations remained below normal levels as of Wednesday.
• Strikes at TotalEnergies’ refineries in France continue to weigh on crude output. Two refineries – Donges and Gonfreville – remain offline, while Feyzin is operating at reduced rates. 27% of Total’s workers joined strikes at its refineries on Wednesday, compared with 32% at the start of last week.
• France has so far released more than 12.5mn barrels of crude oil and refined products from its strategic stockpiles since early March. While crude releases have increased in the past week, no new refined product released have been made this week.
• Latest numbers showed the overall fuel situation in France has improved with 11% of French service stations lacking at least one type of fuel. The wider Paris region continues to be hit more significantly by fuel shortages, following disrupted supply from Le Havre, with around one third of filling stations lacking one type of fuel as of Wednesday according to Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
• On the gas side, two of Elengy’s LNG import terminals – Montoir-de-Bretagne and Fos Tonkin – returned on Wednesday. Fos Cavaou terminal will return on 7 April, the latest schedule shows.
• France’s Dunkerque LNG terminal will operate with reduced delivery capacity of 70 GWh/d for 24 hours starting 6 April 06:00CET.
• France’s EdF announced to extend strike action until 6 April. However, little nuclear generation capacity has been affected by industrial action in recent days.
• While the overall situation has been improving, France is planning a nationwide strike on Thursday, following unsuccessful talks between the government and the union leaders.