French petrol supply improving but Paris area still having problems, minister says

There are signs of a general improvement in the supply of petrol to service stations in France, but the situation in the Paris/Ile-de-France area remains difficult, French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told French radio.

"We are doing all we can to ensure the situation gets better," she said.

TotalEnergies has been hit by strikes at its refinery sites in France for nearly a month now, as workers protest for a higher salary increase that they say would better reflect rising inflation.

Those protests have disrupted the supply of petrol to service stations, leading to long lines of motorists queuing to fill up their cars and causing general public anger.

Energy company EDF, which the French government is in the process of fully nationalising, has also been affected by strikes at its nuclear reactors.

France's national grid operator RTE warned on Tuesday that those prolonged strikes at EDF could have "heavy consequences" for the country's electricity supplies over the coming winter.

Pannier-Runacher said EDF remained in talks with trade unions to try and resolve that dispute.