Some 38 oil tankers have been held up at the Fos-Lavera oil port in southern France, the country's biggest, including 25 at harbor, up from 12 the previous day, a port authority spokeswoman said on Friday. She said 13 other tankers were waiting at quay. Under normal busy operations, at most five vessels wait at harbor. In the northern port of Le Havre, 11 oil tankers were waiting at harbor and five at quay, a port official told Reuters. The rolling strikes by French labor unions, aimed at forcing the government to withdraw a planned labor reform, have shut down of refineries, blocked gasoline depots and disrupted fuel supplies. Earlier this week, France released its strategic fuel reserves for the first time in six years, supplying thousands of gas stations around the country that have been running dry. The government attempted to neutralize the impact of the refinery strikes and reassure panicking motorists, saying that it had strategic reserves to last for 115 days.
