Strikes Cripple France’s Fuel Supply

Four weeks of protests against the pension reform in France have crippled supply to French refineries and refinery operations as workers join the nationwide industrial action, while prices for European crude grades are depressed due to low French demand. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron pushed through with a controversial pension reform without a vote in Parliament under a parliamentary clause known as 49:3. The pension reform proposes to raise the retirement age in France by two years to 64. The strikes in France against the…