According to AP, French oil workers expanded the strike Friday. All of France's oil refineries were on strike, and the government deployed police to force the reopening of several fuel depots around the country that had been blocked, raising concerns of possible gas shortages.

 

In France, workers at all 12 fuel producing refineries were on strike after two plants owned by Exxon Mobil and Petroplus voted to join the protest Friday, said Charles Foulard, a union coordinator at oil company Total SA.

 

France's transport minister authorized oil companies to use some of their reserves after trucking companies complained of difficulties fueling their vehicles. Dominique Bussereau told French radio station RTL that the country's stocks of fuel meant there was no reason for drivers to fear a gas shortage.

 

Nonetheless, police moved in to reopen fuel depots near Marseille and Clermont-Ferrand that had been blocked. Access to an oil port near Bordeaux that had been blocked since Thursday was reopened after talks between strikers and a local official.