Strike Shuts Down All Refineries in France

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petroplus Holdings AG (VTX:PPHN) (Zug, Switzerland), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France), Ineos Group Limited (Hampshire, England) and LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) were forced to shut down their refineries in France due to several union strikes that have been taking place since early September.

On October 12, the 230,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Total Donges Refinery, which is in the Loire region, was the first French refinery to shut down production units as part of a labor strike against a government plan to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62. Hours later, the 100,000-BBL/d Total Granpuits refinery, which is in the Ile de France region, and the 218,000-BBL/d Ineos Lavera refinery, which is in the Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region, joined the strike by starting their own shutdowns.

On October 13, the 160,000-BBL/d Provence Refinery, which is in the Cote d'azur region, shut down its production for the same reason after a week of processing at minimal rates due to a strike at the Fos-Lavera terminal, which had been going on since September 27. This strike against a new law that would concentrate French port activities into private companies was already affecting production levels at six refineries in France and one in Switzerland. For more information, view October 8, 2010, article - Strike May Shut Down French Refineries.

On October 14, the 364,000-BBL/d Total Gonfreville Refinery, which is in the Haute Normandie region, began to shut down its bitumen production units, followed by a complete refinery overhaul the following day.

Strikes did not only affect Total and Ineos refineries. On October 15, Petroplus was forced to shut down the two refineries the group owns and operates in France: the 154,000-BBL/d Petit Couronne Refinery at the Haute Normandie region, and the 85,000-BBL/d Reichstett Refinery in the Alsace region, which had been already operating at reduced capacity.

Meanwhile, after almost two weeks of processing at minimal rates, the 116,000-BBL/d Esso ExxonMobil Fos sur Mer Refinery, which is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte D'azur eegion, shut down production at the 207,000-BBL/d Gravenchon refinery, the largest of the two refineries the group owns in France, where most of the main processing units were kept online.

Only two refineries continued processing at reduced rates: the 117,000-BBL/d Feyzin Refinery, which is in the Rhône-Alpes region and went off line on October 15; and Lyondellbasell's 105,000-BBL/d Berre l'étang Refinery, which is in the Bouches-du-Rhone region and was forced to shut down its units early on October 16, due to a lack of incoming feed from the Fos-Lavera terminal.

Though the government lately has been taking action to unlock all depots in order to avoid fuel shortages, it is unknown at this time as to how long the refineries will remain off line.

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