BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 27. The largest oil refinery in France, owned by the TotalEnergies concern, has stopped work due to a strike of employees protesting against the pension reform, the company's representative said, Trend reports via Reuters.
The enterprise is located in the city of Gonfreville-l'Orcher in the north of France.
Earlier, the authorities decided to return striking staff of oil refineries to their jobs by force in order to avoid "blocking the country’s life".
This measure also affected the staff of the refinery. Trade union representatives decided to challenge this decision in court, but the Administrative Tribunal of Rouen dismissed this complaint last week, after which the workers completely stopped the operation of the refinery.
Furthermore, a new wave of strikes has swept across France since the start of March, affecting many sectors, in particular the energy sector. Due to the strike of refinery staff in many regions, there was a shortage of fuel at gas stations.
According to the latest data from the French sources, over a thousand gas stations all over France have "a shortage of gasoline", while about 650 gas stations have no fuel at all.