Why are some gas stations still running out of fuel?

Barthélémy Philippe 8:14 a.m., November 15, 2022, modified at 8:15 a.m., November 15, 2022

TO ANALYSE

This Tuesday, the government rebate on gasoline drops from 30 to 10 cents per litre.

Same thing for that of Total which goes from 20 to 10 cents.

The two rebates will end on December 31 to make way for aid targeted at large riders.

As if this bad news were not enough for the French, supply problems persist in service stations.

They have even tended to increase in recent days, according to AFP, which announced on Monday that 21% of them lacked at least one fuel, against 15% at the end of October. 

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An overconsumption of 10 to 30%

Recently, the strike was lifted in all depots and refineries in France.

It takes 10 to 15 days after work resumes on these sites for the stations to be delivered again.

With the very recent end of the strikes, French production capacity is not yet at 100%, which partly explains the difficulties.

According to Francis Pousse, national president of service stations at Mobilians, the rebound in shortages will not last.

It is explained by a particular calendar, between the long weekend of November 11 and the drop in discounts which is coming.

"The stations were not delivered as usual this Friday with the public holiday and there were very few deliveries on Saturday. Combined with the drop in the discount on Tuesday evening everyone rushed to the pump. As soon as the end of the rebate is recorded, we will have more excitement and therefore inevitably, sales will drop in stations. During this time, we will be able to refuel in order to restore the average stocks of service stations “, explains Francis Pousse at the microphone of Europe 1.

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Gas stations need their stocks to be replenished.

In recent days, overconsumption varies from 10 to 30% depending on the station, compared to last year.