Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26 -- Total SA said operations at its Gonfreville l'Orcher refinery, the largest in France, came to a halt on Sept. 26 as a workers' strike over pay moved into its seventh day.
Total said production would halt at the few units still operating at the 343,000 b/d refinery, which accounts for 17% of France's refining capacity. Altogether, Total controls 56% of the country's refining capacity, which came to 1.95 million b/d in 2004.
On Sept. 21, Total said the refinery was progressively reducing its output to minimum levels for safety reasons following a strike by employees. The CGT labor union said the strike began On Sept. 20 among employees in the shipping department and involved a wage issue.
The current strike follows one in early September, which hit five of Total's six refineries in France.
On Sept. 7, the union said production at the Gonfreville refinery had been halted by a strike when the entire early shift at the plant downed tools in response to the company's disciplinary action against four members of staff at the La Mede refinery.
CGT said the strike also affected other refineries, a point confirmed by a Total spokeswoman who said strikes at five of Total's six refineries in France started on Sept. 6-7 and were leading to reduced output.
The refineries included Provence at Marseille, Feyzin at Lyon, Grandpuits near Melun in the Paris region, Normandie at Le Havre and Donges near Saint-Nazaire in Western France.
The spokeswoman could not say how much of Total's production had been cut but said it was "not yet near" the 15-20% output minimum capacity below which the plants would have to close for safety reasons.
The CGT strike was prompted after action was taken on Aug. 7 against four employees implicated in a fuel leak at the Provence plant. One of the workers was suspended without pay for 10 days, while the other three were reportedly transferred to different positions.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
