French labour strike reduces capacity at key Dunkirk gas terminal

A 24-hour labour strike in France's power sector on Tuesday was expected to reduce delivery capacity at the Dunkirk LNG terminal to 4 gigawatt-hours per day, Fluxys data showed.

The terminal normally delivers a minimum of 9.4 GWh per day.

Unions called a strike for Tuesday at state-owned nuclear operator EDF, Belgian gas terminal operator Fluxys and French gas terminal operator Elengy to protest a recommendation from the French Court of Auditors to curb employee benefits such as access to cheaper power.

France is one of Europe's largest exporters of gas across the continent and the strike comes as Europe scrambles to refill its gas storage ahead of winter, with Germany and other gas-reliant countries lagging behind European Union storage targets.

The disruption is likely to affect sendout ability only, as no cargoes have been scheduled to arrive at Dunkirk and none were seen redirected to other terminals, LSEG analyst Dzmitry Dauhalevich said.

A spokesperson for Elengy said there were no disruptions at the two Fos terminals or the Montoir terminal.

The strike took 6.5 gigawatts of electricity offline overnight on Monday, EDF data showed.

Workers and retirees in the French energy sector pay discounted rates for gas and electricity, which their unions view as a core part of their compensation package.