Refinery protests will go on drying fuel pumps in France by Zivka Deleva

After closing the Dunkirk refinery and the protests of the workers, French president Nicolas Sarkozy asked the management of the oil giant “Total”, not to close the other five refineries. This is a very tough time for France. One can say that that is maybe the country with the most protest and strikes in Europe (maybe Greece is only one step in front of it)! Sarkozy is worried that this is happening only few weeks before the regional elections and he is afraid this is going to affect his fragile support. The company talked to the unions to stop the strike. They on the other hand, are not really united , and some of them like the union “Sud”, from the! refinery “Dunkirk” don't want to end. On today meeting, the refinery of Flanders decided to go on with actions. They protest since January,12 and plan to strike until the March, 8 when the works council will hear the plans for the facility. Sarkozy had an appointment with Total CEO, Christophe de Margerie trying to convince him that the country needs the refineries. Besides the forthcoming elections, the worst points of this crisis hit as the government had propaganda persuading people to reduce the consumption of the fuels for the ecological reasons. 249 of 2.600 “Total” service stations (which is almost 10 per cents) have already ran dry. And people awfully need the fuel now, concerning the upcoming mid-term school holidays. It seems like the global refining situation is bad everywhere. According to an energy expert at the French global consultancy, Cap Gemini, “refining activities are losing money in all major refineries.” “Mr! Sarkozy is deluding himself if he thinks that he can do more ! than del ay the pain at home. If this were yet another cyclical downturn, Total might swallow some red ink rather than suffer the mud-slinging of politicians, unions and consumers, but the French oil company is facing something much bigger than domestic opprobrium.” – writes “Times”. “Total” loses €100 million per month from its European refinery busines

by Zivka Deleva for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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