I want to say I’m surprised, but I feel a need to make a good joke about the French and labor strikes. Hmm, I guess that would be too easy. It does make me wonder if this was getting played out in the market yesterday ahead of the Brent collapse.
This should give more lift to the WTI/Brent spread today along with a lift to HO (ULSD) in anticipation of more exports.
Total Workers go on strike, almost 824,000 bpd of refining capacity shut in: Total workers at the French La Mede, Gonfreville, Grandpuits and Donges refineries voted a strike on Friday ahead of annual wage talks with management, a CGT union source said.
Output levels at the four refineries had reached the minimum, the union official said, adding that workers at the Feyzin refinery were not on strike.
“There are no (oil) products leaving the refineries nor crude entering the sites,” he said, adding that workers were pushing for higher wage rises than those offered.
Total workers were set to vote later in the day on whether to fully stop the refineries over the weekend.
* Total La Mede – 155,000 bpd
* Total Gonfreville – 339,000 bpd
* Total Grandpuits – 99,000 bpd
* Total Donges – 231,000 bpd
Combined Capacity = 824,000 bpd