Energy supply in France has been disrupted by a wave of strikes over pension and port reforms.
The impact has been most severe in the oil sector, with refining at a virtual standstill and a quarter of petrol stations facing shortages, but strikes in the gas and electricity sectors have also curbed supply capacity.
Workers at most of France's 12 refineries voted to stay on strike for at least part of this week while the country's biggest oil port, Fos-Lavera, was locked in a month-old strike.
But in signs of an easing of the movement, workers at three other refineries ended action and oil industry lobby UFIP said there were no longer any fuel depots being blocked.
The government has tried to limit the impact of the strikes by using police to clear access to blockades and facilitating fuel imports and the delivery of fuel by lorries.
The authorities have allowed the use of industry stocks but have not drawn on France's 90-day emergency stocks, the International Energy Agency says.
The government is also hoping the final adoption of its pension reform bill, due this week, will cause protests to fade and help fuel supply to return to normal.
OIL SECTOR: FROM PORTS TO PUMPS
-PORTS AND RIVERS
* Workers at Fos-Lavera, France's top oil hub and part of the Marseille port on the Mediterranean coast, have been on strike since September 27 to seek job guarantees in a port reform as well as in protest against wider pension reform.
* The strike has left dozens of oil tankers blocked in front of the terminals and forced five of the six French refineries supplied by Fos-Lavera to halt production.
* The port of Marseille said the strike was blocking 80 vessels off Fos-Lavera on Monday, including 38 crude oil tankers and 19 oil product vessels.
* Strike action over pensions continued on Monday at the oil port of Le Havre on the north coast, the CGT union said. According to port data, 13 oil tankers were blocked on Monday at what is France's second-largest oil port.
* As part of its response to the strikes, fuel distributors have stepped up imports, including rare gasoline shipments to the northern port of Rouen. A vessel unloaded gasoline at the weekend and another was due this week, said Distridyn, the fuel unit of superarket group Casino.
* Strikers had also briefly blocked oil product barges on the river Rhine at the French-German border on October 19 in a move to prevent the import of fuel supplies.
The impact has been most severe in the oil sector, with refining at a virtual standstill and a quarter of petrol stations facing shortages, but strikes in the gas and electricity sectors have also curbed supply capacity.
Workers at most of France's 12 refineries voted to stay on strike for at least part of this week while the country's biggest oil port, Fos-Lavera, was locked in a month-old strike.
But in signs of an easing of the movement, workers at three other refineries ended action and oil industry lobby UFIP said there were no longer any fuel depots being blocked.
The government has tried to limit the impact of the strikes by using police to clear access to blockades and facilitating fuel imports and the delivery of fuel by lorries.
The authorities have allowed the use of industry stocks but have not drawn on France's 90-day emergency stocks, the International Energy Agency says.
The government is also hoping the final adoption of its pension reform bill, due this week, will cause protests to fade and help fuel supply to return to normal.
OIL SECTOR: FROM PORTS TO PUMPS
-PORTS AND RIVERS
* Workers at Fos-Lavera, France's top oil hub and part of the Marseille port on the Mediterranean coast, have been on strike since September 27 to seek job guarantees in a port reform as well as in protest against wider pension reform.
* The strike has left dozens of oil tankers blocked in front of the terminals and forced five of the six French refineries supplied by Fos-Lavera to halt production.
* The port of Marseille said the strike was blocking 80 vessels off Fos-Lavera on Monday, including 38 crude oil tankers and 19 oil product vessels.
* Strike action over pensions continued on Monday at the oil port of Le Havre on the north coast, the CGT union said. According to port data, 13 oil tankers were blocked on Monday at what is France's second-largest oil port.
* As part of its response to the strikes, fuel distributors have stepped up imports, including rare gasoline shipments to the northern port of Rouen. A vessel unloaded gasoline at the weekend and another was due this week, said Distridyn, the fuel unit of superarket group Casino.
* Strikers had also briefly blocked oil product barges on the river Rhine at the French-German border on October 19 in a move to prevent the import of fuel supplies.