Workers at TotalEnergies' 222,000 b/d Donges refinery in northwest France will vote today on whether to end strike action following a dispute over the use of fixed-term contracts.
TotalEnergies has refused to negotiate. Workers at the plant say they "will continue to fight to financially undermine TotalEnergies", without specifying any actions or timeframe.
Donges has not processed any crude since December 2020. It was shut down on economic grounds and then stayed closed for an extended turnaround, which began last autumn. The work included repairs to a cracked crude pipeline. TotalEnergies had planned to resume operations after the turnaround on 11 March, but that was missed.
Two crude tankers that were slated to discharge at Donges in March and April diverted away from the refinery, both going to Le Havre instead. Aframax tanker the Lancing was carrying around 450,000 bl of North Sea Ekofisk and the Alfa Finlandia had a similar-sized cargo of Libyan grade Bouri. Both discharged at Le Havre where TotalEnergies has its 240,000 b/d Gonfreville refinery.
A third tanker, the Eagle Barcelona, is now signalling arrival with a 500,000 bl cargo of US WTI crude loaded at Corpus Christi. But it is not slated to arrive until 26 April. Workers at the plant say crude tanks are empty, suggesting that a restart may be unlikely before the turn of the month.
