PARIS (Reuters) – The French government said on Sunday that France was on the right track over further easing the problem of petrol service stations not having enough petrol due to strikes at oil refineries, which had hit motorists around the country.

Data on Friday showed that about 13 percent of petrol service stations still had supply problems, down from over 30 percent last week-end.

The strikes have been held by some TotalEnergies staff, who are demanding a higher pay rise to take into account rising inflation and the large profits made by TotalEnergies.

“We are on the right track,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told Europe 1 radio.

“The crisis at the service stations will be finished when we no longer have any French person who is forced to queue up at a petrol station to fill up,” he added.

(Reporting by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Workers on strike gather in front of the French oil giant TotalEnergies refinery in Donges near Saint-Nazaire, France October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo