Paris (Platts)--3Jun2008

Some 20 trucks were still blocking Total's 158,000 b/d La Mede oil
refinery on the southern Mediterranean coast early Tuesday, the French oil
major said, as part of ongoing protests over fuel prices.

"There are fewer vehicles around the plant than there were yesterday by
the refinery is still blocked, a company spokesman said.

The protest against high fuel prices has prevented fuel deliveries to and
from the refinery near the Marseille hub since late Sunday.

Elsewhere, truckers set up a new blockade around one of Total's oil
depots near Lyon, southeast France Tuesday but those around depots in the
Burgundy region near Dijon had been lifted, Total said.

"Generally the situation is better than it was at the end of last week
and for the moment these blockades are having no impact on the supply of
petrol," the Total spokesman said.

Like the fishermen, who have mostly returned to work after two weeks of
strikes, protesting lorry drivers, taxi drivers and farmers want to draw
attention to the impact of record high fuel prices on their businesses.

Lorries were driving at snail's pace on major roads across France on
Monday as part of the protests, reports said.

Protests would continue Tuesday, said OTRE, one group representing small
lorry driver businesses despite a meeting on Monday between transport minister
Dominique Bussereau and leaders of the FNTR, another French truck drivers
group.

OTRE, which represents 4,500 small trucking businesses, says lorry
drivers have seen fuel prices rise by 85% since December 2006 and by 25% in
the past month.

An FNTR spokesman said its group would meet on June 6 to decide whether
to call for more protests.