Strike shuts Paris pipeline, police unblock depots

Oil refinery workers striking over government pension reforms shut down a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports on Friday, raising concerns of fuel shortages in the French capital.

Operating company Trapil confirmed that a pipeline that brings car, jet and domestic fuel to part of the Paris region had stopped operating because of strikes at northern refineries.

But airport operator ADP played down worries over shortages, saying it had several days of fuel reserves.

The blocking of a handful of depots by protesters had compounded fears of fuel shortages but some truck deliveries resumed on Friday after police lifted blockades at three depots.

"The unblocking of certain depots will offer some breathing space," said a spokesperson for oil major Total, which is France''s largest petrol station operator with 4,000 outlets.

"The problem is more one of logistics than of availability - there is fuel out there."

Nationwide strikes over pension reforms have spread across the refining sector this week, increasing strain on France's fuel supply as its largest oil port Fos-Lavera remained locked in a two-week-old strike over a port reorganisation.

The government has called on the public to stay calm, saying it would make commercial stocks available for trucks but that it did not plan to use French strategic reserves.

A few dozen petrol stations out of about 12,500 outlets in France have reported brief fuel shortages this week, with distributors saying this was mainly due to rush buying by motorists rather than a lack of supply.

Union officials said police intervention would not change the situation at refineries.

"What could the police do? They would have to be able to operate the installations," said Michel Lavastrou, CGT union official at the Feyzin refinery.

No one at the French energy and transport ministry was immediately available to comment on the situation.

In the gas sector, unions said pension strikes at some port terminals could affect supplies to the grid in coming days.

But a spokesperson for GDF Suez said stocks were high at all its terminals with the exception of Montoir on the west coast, adding that most French LNG gas supply came from abroad.

Oil refinery strikes, which began on Tuesday, have blocked supplies from plants and all 12 French refineries were on strike on Friday, with 10 in the process of shutting down, union officials said.

Workers were striking mostly over an unpopular pension reform that is before parliament, although a strike at the Reichstett plant in eastern France was over jobs, unions said.

Production at some refineries has also been slashed by the 19-day-old strike at the Mediterranean oil port of Fos-Lavera, which supplies six French refineries with crude oil.

Police restored access to a major oil depot near Marseille on the south coast after workers blocked it on Thursday.

The authorities also removed blockades at a depot near the south-western city of Bordeaux and at a third site near Clermont-Ferrand in central France after the Elysee ordered them to be unblocked late on Thursday.