Total Suspends Restart of La Mede Refinery

French oil major Total  had to suspend the restart of its La Mede refinery near Marseille late on Friday because of striking workers from the CGT union, a company spokesman said.

"Striking workers who are not necessary to monitoring have left the plant this (Friday) evening," the spokesman told Reuters.

Total had begun procedures to restart the refinery on the Mediterranean coast, which management had shut down last week after the hardline CGT union called a strike against plans to stop crude oil refining.

Total announced earlier this year that it intended to stop crude oil processing at the 153,000 barrels-per-day plant by the end of 2016 as demand for petroleum products declines in Europe. 

(Reporting by Michel Rose)