• Many stations are running out of fuel in Hauts-de-France.

  • A shortage partly caused by social movements in the refineries of the Total Energies group.

  • Motorists are also responsible, robbing the stations because of the discount granted by Total.

It is clear that, in recent weeks, refueling your vehicle in Hauts-de-France has been more a matter of Beijing express than of a health walk.

Many stations are regularly short of traditional fuels, in particular diesel or SP95, forcing motorists to drive further and further to find precious liquid.

Certainly cyclical, the situation could however prove to be less complicated if everyone did their part according to the gendarmes.

This Wednesday morning, the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, called on the government to help him run his school transport, also impacted by the fuel shortage.

In fact, when you look at the various maps online to find a station that is supplied, you realize the extent of the problem.

At Total Energies, it's desert almost everywhere around Lille.

With the competition, it also becomes very complicated as shown by the price-fuel government site.

“Some even fill jerrycans”

"We meet a lot of people this evening desperately trying to fill up with gas", explained, Tuesday evening, the gendarmes of Hallennes-les-Haubourdin, near Lille.

During their patrol, they found that the eight stations in their sector were empty.

An observation that they attribute only in part to strikes in several Total refineries which complicate the supply of stations.

"This shortage is largely created by ourselves", say the soldiers, denouncing "endless queues" as soon as a station is supplied and the selfishness of "some [who] even fill jerrycans".

A rush for cheap black gold that Xavier Bertrand puts more on the back of the 20-cent discount set up by Total Energies: "This discount had the consequence of significantly increasing the number of users of the group's and, mechanically, make the supply […] complex”, he wrote to Clément Beaune, Minister in charge of Transport.



"We repeat it to you, but even if the pumps are empty in the evening, most are supplied during the day", hammer the gendarmes, "do not panic", they insist.

A call to reason that could find no echo in human nature.

It is in this perspective that the boss of Hauts-de-France challenges the Minister of Transport: “I ask the government to quickly remedy this situation so that essential public services […] can circulate”.

Company

TotalEnergies: The strike for wages continues in most French refineries

Economy

Energy crisis: The State summons gas and electricity suppliers, who "do not play the game" of prices

  • Hauts-de-France

  • Gendarmerie

  • Shortage

  • Fuels

  • Essence

  • Company