By Bate Felix

PARIS, May 27 (Reuters) – French CGT union members on the CIM, an oil storage and provide providers firm which handles about 40 p.c of French crude imports, have voted to increase their strike on the port terminal till Monday, a union official advised Reuters.

CIM, at Le Havre, France’s second-biggest oil port, has not been in a position to ship crude to refineries and merchandise via the Trapil pipeline since Tuesday after staff joined a nationwide rolling strike in opposition to deliberate labour reforms.

“The strike has been extended until midday on Monday,” Mathias Jeanne, a CGT official mentioned by telephone, including that 85 p.c of their 150 members amongst 260 employees voted to increase the strike.

He mentioned members will meet once more on Monday to determine the subsequent step.

“If the government does not budge, we are ready to take it to the end,” he mentioned.

CIM is central to France’s oil sector with 2.4 million cubic metres of crude storage capability and 1.7 million cubic metres of refined merchandise storage capability together with jet gas, diesel, petrol and naphtha at Le Havre.

It provides close by Exxon Mobil’s 240,000 barrel-per-day Port Jerome – Gravenchon refinery, one in every of three out of eight refineries in France that has not been halted because of the strike.

CIM additionally provides jet gas to Paris Aeroport which manages the three foremost airports within the French capital Roissy, Orly and Le Bourget. A spokesman mentioned on Thursday that Paris Aeroport nonetheless had shares to final one other week.

The strike by oil sector CGT staff has led to refinery shut downs, blockade of gas depots, gas provide disruption and a backlog of a number of dozen oil tankers on the two foremost French oil ports at Le Havre and Fos-Lavera.

French oil and gasoline firm Total mentioned on Friday that 4 of its 5 refineries in France had been fully shut down because of the strike.

Total, Europe’s largest refiner, mentioned its fifth refinery, the 153,000 barrel-per-day La Mede within the south of France, was nonetheless operating at decreased output capability.

It added that gas provide disruption was easing barely with some 741 of its petrol stations in France partially or fully out of gas in contrast with 784 yesterday. Total controls 2,200 of France’s 11,500 petrol stations.

CGT union staff at Elengy, which operates three liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) terminals in France, additionally voted on Friday to increase their strike till Monday.

French riot police eliminated picketers and barricades blocking entry to a big gas distribution depot close to the Donges oil refinery in western France as President Francois Hollande warned anti-reform protesters on Friday he wouldn’t allow them to strangle the economic system. (Reporting by Bate Felix and Valerie Parent; Editing by Gus Trompiz and Adrian Croft)

Update: Some 38 oil tankers have been held up on the Fos-Lavera oil port in southern France, the nation’s greatest, together with 25 at harbour, up from 12 yesterday, a port authority spokeswoman mentioned on Friday.

She mentioned 13 different tankers have been ready at quay. Under regular busy operations, at most 5 vessels wait at harbour.

In the northern port of Le Havre, 11 oil tankers have been ready at harbour and 5 at quay, a port official advised Reuters.

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