Several TotalEnergies service stations have been affected by a fuel shortage in recent days. La Dépêche du Midi takes stock with Sylvain Panas, regional director of TotalEnergies in Occitanie.
How to explain these shortages in several TotalEnergies stations?
First of all, it should be noted that not all Total stations are concerned. We have about 3500 service stations in France, and only some of them are affected by shortages. This is explained by the fact that our announcement of a reduction of 20 euro cents per liter at the pump, effective since September 1, generated a very large crowd in the stations. Very clearly, many French people waited for this date to rush to the pump. On Thursday and Friday, there were endless queues at the stations and the stocks were emptied. In addition, in France, trucks are not allowed to drive on weekends. As a result, on Saturday and Sunday, the stations could not be replenished, which led to shortage phenomena. It took until Monday to refuel service stations.
Sylvain Pana, regional director of TotalEnergies in Occitanie.
How long will these shortages last?
It will settle down. Because from this Monday, our teams took care of refueling the network after this busy back-to-school weekend. To sum up, the problem was only occasional and only on a few stations. It is however possible that there will still be some difficulties in some stations next weekend.
Did you foresee this phenomenon?
Sure. On September 1, all the stations were fully loaded, the stocks were at the bottom. But the crowd was such that it did not last the weekend. We expected it, this phenomenon arises from a natural consumer behavior, people rushed to the discount.
So what do you recommend to motorists?
There’s no point in rushing for fuel right away. The efforts made by TotalEnergies in its stations, that is to say the reduction at the pump, will be in place until the end of December. There’s no point in panicking. TotalEnergies is proud to contribute to the national effort on the energy package of French citizens. This discount of 20 cents is really a strong gesture for their purchasing power.