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EDF Nuclear, Total Refinery Output Drop on Strike (Update1)
2010-09-07 10:34:03.393 GMT
(Adds comment from union on GDF Suez in seventh paragraph.)
By Tara Patel
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- French workers reduced output at
Electricite de France SA's nuclear reactors and Total SA
refineries as part of a nationwide strike over a government plan
to increase the retirement age.
The walkout led to a 5,000-megawatt decrease in nuclear
output from EDF reactors, according to CGT union spokeswoman
Marie-Claire Cailletaud. Refinery output at Total's French
plants is dropping to "minimum levels," company spokesman
Michael Crochet-Vourey said. Shipments have been blocked at all
plants except Feyzin in the Rhone Valley, he said.
Total management and the CGT union are locked in a legal
battle over the idling a year ago of the Flanders refinery near
Dunkirk, which the company plans to dismantle. Closure of the
refinery triggered a week-long strike in February that led to
fuel shortages. Total, Europe's biggest refiner, has five other
refineries in France including Gonfreville in Normandy, the
largest, Donges, Feyzin, Provence and Grandpuits.
Participation in the strike by Total refinery and
petrochemicals workers is expected to be "high," CGT spokesman
Charles Foulard said by telephone.
Workers at Donges and Grandpuits refineries voted to extend
their strike until Sept. 9, beyond the 24 hours initially
scheduled for the walkout, the CGT said in an e-mailed
statement.
Exxon, LyondellBasell
Staff at Total's petrochemicals plants have brought
production to minimum levels in some instances "with no impact
for clients," Total Petrochemicals spokeswoman Nathalie Leclerc
said by telephone.
French refineries owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. at Port
Jerome-Gravenchon and Fos-sur-Mer and LyondellBasell's Berre
plant weren't affected by the strike, according to Catherine
Brun, an Exxon spokeswoman, and Isabelle Merle-Aguesse, a
spokeswoman at LyondellBasell.
Martine le Ster and Richard Longden of Ineos Group Holding
Plc. weren't immediately available to comment on operations at
their refinery in Lavera, southern France.
At GDF Suez SA, France's former natural gas monopoly,
customer service telephone lines and deliveries of liquefied
natural gas to French ports are disrupted, CGT spokesman Laurent
Langlard said by telephone.
French unions are striking nationwide as lawmakers begin
debating President Nicolas Sarkozy's bill to raise the
retirement age to 62 from 60. Transport workers began walking
off the job last night, and many schools, post offices and
government offices will be closed today. Demonstrations are
planned in 137 cities.
Total was down 1.3 percent at 38.385 euros as of 12:18 p.m.
in Paris. EDF, the world's biggest operator of nuclear reactors,
retreated 0.6 percent to 32.705 euros.
The drop in nuclear output from EDF reactors occurred
yesterday, Cailletaud said. The reduced output at Total
refineries remains at levels considered safe, Crochet-Vourey
said.
For Related News and Information:
EDF stories EDF FP <Equity> CN <GO>
Today's top energy news ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
French power prices ELTM <GO>
--With assistance from Nidaa Bakhsh in London Editors: Alex
Devine, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tara Patel in Paris at +33-1-5365-5058 or
tpatel2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at +44-20-7073-3603 or
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net
