OREANDA-NEWS. Strike action at French refineries and fuel depots continues, leading to Total halting all units at four out of its five refineries in the country.

Strike action has now caused the complete shutdown of Total's 222,000 b/d Donges and 93,000 b/d Grandpuits refineries, joining the 105,000 b/d Feyzin and 240,000 b/d Gonfreville refineries that have been stopped for a few days. Operating rates are still reduced at the 160,000 b/d La Mede facility, with product unable to leave.

All of Total's nine storage depots are fully operating, up from eight the previous day.

ExxonMobil has reported further distribution issues at its 117,000 b/d Fos refinery in southern France. Production at Fos is "almost normal", unchanged from yesterday. The situation also remains unchanged from the previous day at ExxonMobil's 233,000 b/d Port Jerome refinery, with all operations, including distribution, unaffected by strike action.

Events in France have hit production of gasoline and middle distillates the most, traders said. Product cracks for gasoline and jet fuel have reached multi-month highs this week, as the strikes coincide with peak summer demand.

French diesel cracks to North Sea Dated had risen yesterday by almost $1/bl from a week earlier as strike action contributed to tighter diesel supplies in northwest Europe. The impact of the strikes has also contributed to a weaker market contango for Ice gasoil futures.

In the crude market, CPC Blend discounts to North Sea Dated collapsed yesterday, as Glencore sold an early June cargo to Gunvor at an almost two-year low. Market participants pointed to worsening naphtha cracks and a backwardated North Sea Dated structure — where prompt prices are above forward ones — as sources of pressure on the light sour Caspian blend. The industrial unrest in France — strikes have halted crude supplies to key ports Fos and Le Havre — has led to a build-up of cross-month supply that threatens to weigh on early-June loading cargoes. France was the second largest buyer of CPC Blend last year after Italy, taking just over 170,000 b/d — or 18pc of total exports.

The Long Range 2 (LR2) Front Cougar, which is carrying jet fuel and was chartered by Vitol, has been sitting offshore Le Havre since 24 May. But it is unclear whether it is unable to offload as a result of delays at Le Havre, because the LR2 Front Lynx, which is carrying 80,000t of jet fuel and was also chartered by Vitol, has been sitting offshore Le Havre since 11 May.