Sawt Falasteen - French energy giant offers pay talks to end fuel strike

Vehicle owners have faced increasingly long waits to fill up after two weeks of strikes by workers demanding higher wages in response to soaring prices.

"I haven't been able to work for two days now," complained 60-year-old taxi driver Thierry.

He said he had "gone round the whole of Paris" to find fuel and had already been waiting for three hours at a filling station in the capital for fuel tankers to turn up.

Like other major oil companies, TotalEnergies has seen its profits soar as energy prices skyrocket during the war in Ukraine, and government officials have been pressing the company to settle the standoff.

TotalEnergies runs a network of around 3,500 filling stations in France, nearly a third of the total. Most of them are low on fuel or even empty for some types.

"If the depot blockades end and with the agreement of all labour representatives, the company proposes to move forward the annual salary negotiations from November to October," TotalEnergies said.

The discussions would define "how employees will benefit from TotalEnergies' exceptional results before the end of this year, taking into account this year's inflation".

On Sunday, the CGT union branch at the company -- which is leading the strikes at TotalEnergies and at rival Esso-ExxonMobil -- said the industrial action would continue but it was open to talks as soon as Monday.

"If we do start talks, it will be based on our demands -- a 10-percent salary hike ... retroactive for the year 2022," branch coordinator Eric Sellini told AFP.

Currently three of Total's refineries are blocked, including its largest, in Normandy, as well as a fuel depot near Flandres in the north.

The government has already dipped into strategic stockpiles in a bid to bring relief, and fuel tankers are being allowed exceptionally to make deliveries on Sunday to replenish filling stations.

"I'm all in favour of dialogue so French people don't have to put up with this industrial action for too long," Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFM television.

She said the government had increased supplies by 20 percent but fears of running out of fuel were aggravating the shortage. Some areas have seen a 30-percent spike in sales to motorists.

"The situation should improve tomorrow," she said.

V.AbuAwwad--SF-PST