Government spokesman Christophe Castaner spoke of the extreme action as he said protesters had no right to “paralyse” the country.
Truck drivers belonging to France’s second and third largest unions, the CGT and the FO, said on Wednesday they would launch a rolling strike on September 25 in an effort to pressure the government into scrapping its plans to liberalise the French jobs market via a loosening of the country’s complex labour laws.
Mr Castaner told France Info radio: “Every worker has the right to protest. They do not, however, have the right to bring the country to a standstill.
“We cannot allow a handful of people to tangle and disrupt traffic nationwide.
“We will mobilise the country’s reserve oil stocks if needed, because we cannot let protesters paralyse France.
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“We cannot stop people from going to work.”
Jérôme Vérité, the secretary general of the CGT union’s transport federation, told reporters on Thursday the country’s fuel depots were “obviously a target,” adding that the planned strike would have “concrete economic consequences”.
Mr Vérité said: “The strike will last as long as necessary… We’re heading for a social disaster. We want the government to reverse course on its decrees.”
The contentious labour reform triggered a wave of nationwide protests on Tuesday, the first demonstration of public disapproval since centrist Emmanuel Macron, 39, took power in May.
The new labour code, which is to be passed before the end of this month despite the spate of protests, will make it easier for companies to hire and fire, and will give firms more flexibility to set pay and working conditions. It also includes a cap on payouts for unfair dismissals.
Mr Macron’s government is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of May 2016, when a truckers’ strike against the former socialist government’s plans to reform the state pension system caused fuel shortages nationwide, bringing the country to a near halt.