Noa Moussa 20:31 pm, March 23, 2023

Are Paris airports at risk of running out of kerosene? The situation is "critical", according to the government, which says it is ready to requisition strikers to resume fuel shipments from the Normandy refinery. According to information from Europe 1, the pipeline still operates from the state's strategic reserves.

The supply of kerosene to the Ile-de-France and its airports by Normandy "becomes critical", said Thursday, March 23, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of Energy Transition. The latter has "taken a requisition order" with regard to the strikers, which has not been notified "at this stage" to the employees of the refinery, stopped last weekend. For its part, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been warning airlines, for several days, that the kerosene reserves at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports are "under tension", encouraging them to take their precautions.

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Take precautions

But why are kerosene reserves under stress? In reality, Paris airports are fed by an oil pipeline from Normandy, and several loading points exist along this pipe. There are import depots in Le Havre and Rouen and there are the TotalEnergies refineries in Gonfreville-l'Orcher and ExxonMobil in Gravenchon, the two largest in France, where kerosene shipments have been blocked for several days.

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Reserves are emptying

According to information from Europe 1, the pipeline still operates from the strategic reserves of the State. Each airport also has reserves that allow to last ten days when they are filled, but as the days go by, the reserves are empty. To preserve them, airlines have been asked to carry as much fuel as possible from their airport of origin, so as not to fill up when they pass through the Paris region.