PARIS, Oct 18 — Exxon Mobil’s 140,000 barrel per day (bpd) fos-Sur-Mer and 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refineries in France could take 2-3 weeks to fully restart after shutdowns caused by strikes, a company spokesperson said today.
Strike action over pay at the two refineries, which resulted in a three-week closure, ended late last week. This has allowed Exxon to begin restarting the plants.
The outages, coupled with walkouts at oil major TotalEnergies, contributed to supply problems at French petrol stations and resulted in growing queues of motorists worried about supply disruption.
A nationwide strike in France today has not affected the restart of Exxon’s refineries, the spokesperson said. — Reuters