Factbox-French strikes hamper refining, LNG imports

PARIS (Reuters) -French refineries and depots have had deliveries blocked for two weeks, creating a backlog in storage and forcing companies to reduce production.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals have also been blocked, halting imports at three sites.

The energy sector has been caught up in nationwide protests over government plans to raise France's retirement age by two years and other proposed changes.

Here are the companies and sites affected:

TOTALENERGIES

Strikes have stretched into a 14th day, blocking deliveries of oil products from four TotalEnergies refineries and hitting output at two of them as storage fills.

Production has been stopped as of Tuesday morning at its 240,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Gonfreville refinery and production is reduced at its 119,000 bpd Feyzin oil refinery in southern France, the company said.

Its La Mede biorefinery, which can process 500,000 tonnes of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) per year, has been shut for maintenance since the week before the strike action started.

Refining has been stopped for several weeks at the 230,000 bpd Donges refinery due to technical reasons, which a company spokesperson previously attributed to a transformer.

EXXONMOBIL

Strikes have also affected ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso's 140,000 bpd Fos refinery at Fos-sur-Mer where deliveries have been disrupted since March 7.

The French government has taken steps to requisition staff to ensure the functioning of the Fos-sur-Mer petrol depot on Tuesday morning, government minister Clement Beaune said.

The requisition is valid for 48 hours as needed, the French energy ministry said.

A strike resumed on March 18 at the 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon in northern France, where deliveries are also blocked.

ENGIE

Deliveries of LNG to Engie subsidiary Elengy's three terminals have been blocked since March 7. The strike was renewed on March 20 and will stretch until March 27, when another general assembly will vote on a possible extension.

FLUXYS

The Dunkirk terminal operated by Fluxys returned to operation on March 17 after being shuttered since March 7.

Workers at the Dunkirk LNG terminal in northern France voted late on Monday not to resume strike action after the site returned to operation on Friday following a strike. Another vote will be held later this week, possibly on Wednesday, on whether to take further strike action.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin, additional reporting by America Hernandez; editing by Jason Neely)

By Forrest Crellin