The Ministry of Energy Transition announced on Tuesday the requisition of “three employees per shift” at the Fos-sur-Mer oil depot. It is a question of dealing with “the worsening supply tensions in the Bouches-du-Rhône”, a consequence of the strikes against the pension reform.
“The requisition is valid for 48 hours, from March 21” and concerns “personnel essential to the operation of the depot” which supplies the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and the east of the Occitanie region with fuel, specifies the ministry in a statement. “Today the stations remain generally well supplied at the national level, but tensions are crystallizing in PACA”, explains Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The depot also ships fuel by pipeline to the Lyon region.
Half of the Bouches-du-Rhône service stations lacked a type of fuel, and 37% were dry on Monday, according to public data analyzed by Agence France presse (AFP). The situation was also particularly disturbed in the neighboring departments of Gard (40.9%), Vaucluse (33.33%), Var (23.24%) and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (22.22%). ). At the national level, around 8% of service stations in France were out of petrol or diesel.
Monday, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, had yet seemed to rule out short-term requisitions. “We are not at the time of the requisition”, he had declared. He had taken care to specify that it is “framed” by law and that this process is “never (used) with joy of heart”. “It’s always a last resort. “If necessary, we will take action,” he added.
The police intervene at the Donges oil terminal
The prefectures of Vaucluse and Gard decided on Monday to limit fuel sales in stations in the department, until Thursday inclusive, in particular to 30 liters per vehicle, while prohibiting the sale of gasoline in jerry cans. The lack of fuel also affects some western departments, such as Loire-Atlantique. France has 200 oil depots. The Ufip, professional union of oil companies, mentioned Monday “between five and eight blocked fuel depots”.
In the refineries, which continue to produce even if the fuel is not shipped, the strikes have also hardened recently, with the shutdown this weekend of production at the TotalEnergies site in Normandy, then at the Pétroineos refinery in Lavera (Bouches-du-Rhône).
The police intervened overnight from Monday to Tuesday to unblock the Donges oil terminal (Loire-Atlantique), which had been occupied for a week by strikers, to facilitate the unloading of a cargo of diesel.