Paris (AFP)

The General Assembly at the Total refinery in Grandpuits (Seine-et-Marne) voted on Monday to continue the strike movement against the pension reform, while a call for a total blockage of refineries in France between 7 and January 10 was launched by the CGT of the oil group.

Total however wanted to be reassuring about the supply of its network, ruling out any "risk of shortage".

"No product will leave Grandpuits which has a storage capacity of 15 days," warned Thierry Defresne, central union representative at Total.

Employees of the Grandpuits refinery have been on strike since December 5, but provide a minimum compulsory service.

The CGT Federation of Chemistry called last week to block all petroleum installations - refineries, petroleum terminals, deposits - for 96 hours, from January 7 to 10, to obtain the withdrawal of the pension reform project.

"Seven out of eight refineries" will be on strike "from tomorrow for 96 hours," said Thierry Defresne.

The CIM, the maritime oil depot in Le Havre, "should close tomorrow (Tuesday, note) from 7:00 am for 96 hours," he said. "Orly and Roissy will therefore no longer be supplied with kerosene", according to him.

Of the eight French refineries (including the La Mède bio-refinery), five depend on the Total group, two from Esso (Exxon-Mobil) and one from Petroineos, that of Lavera in Bouches-du-Rhône

For its part, the Total group wanted to be reassuring, saying that the movement announced will have "no impact on the supply" of its network from January 7 to 10, nor "beyond".

"There is no concern for the supply and no risk of shortage within the network of Total service stations", assured in a press release the oil group, which says "perfectly prepared".

"To date, the four refineries of the Total group in Donges, Feyzin, Normandy and Grandpuits and the bio-refinery in La Mède are operating and producing," according to the press release.

As for depots, with the exception of those attached to the Grandpuits and La Mède refineries, "no other depots from the Total group are blocked and shipments are proceeding at a normal rate," the French group said.

The strikers at the Grandpuits refinery received a visit this Monday from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, number one of LFI, who hoped that President Emmanuel Macron would "end up letting go" and renounce the pension reform.

© 2020 AFP