No breakthrough in French refinery labour disputes

Strike action at ExxonMobil's two French refineries will continue unless management agrees to new talks and presents fresh wage proposals, unions told Argus on Tuesday.

The strike at the 236,000 b/d Port Jerome refinery, the adjacent Gravenchon petrochemical plant and the 133,000 b/d Fos refinery has entered its 14th day. Unions say workers are determined to continue.

"If management do not change their mind, dark days are ahead of us," the CGT trade union said.

The Force Ouvriere (FO) union also said the industrial action will continue and that it remains well supported by employees. Both the CGT and FO reported some difficult exchanges with members of management at the petrochemical site at Gravenchon.

Wage negotiations between ExxonMobil and the unions have so far proved fruitless. It is unclear when the next meeting between the two sides will happen. Union officials will meet with workers at ExxonMobil sites today.

Meanwhile, strikes are continuing at some of TotalEnergies' French facilities, also over a wage dispute. The company's 246,900 b/d Gonfreville refinery remains closed. Petrochemical units at Gonfreville and the firm's Carling petrochemical facility in the east of the country are also shut and workers at the company's Flanders logistics depot are on strike as well. TotalEnergies' 500,000 t/yr hydrotreated vegetable oil plant at La Mede, close to the port of Fos-Lavera, is the subject of industrial action, too.

Workers at TotalEnergies' 109,300 b/d Feyzin refinery remain on strike, but the CGT said the number of people taking part there has dropped and some oil products are being moved from the refinery. Feyzin was closed for unplanned works anyway following a fire and a separate leak in a fluid catalytic cracker. The impact of the industrial action on the repair works is unclear. Workers at TotalEnergies' third French refinery, the 219,000 b/d Donges plant on France's southern Atlantic coast, are not on strike.

By Adam Porter