An explosive fire has broken out at an oil refinery in Victoria, raising fears petrol supplies to the state – and Australia as a whole – will be affected amid the ongoing fuel supply crisis brought on by the war in the Middle East. Here’s what we know so far about the fire, its cause and likely impact on the economy.
The blaze at the Viva Energy facility in Corio, in Geelong’s northern suburbs, broke out just after 11pm on Wednesday, with Fire Rescue Victoria alerted to the incident by multiple calls to triple zero “reporting explosions and flames”.
About 50 firefighters, 10 fire trucks and a boat attended the scene, the Fire Rescue Victoria assistant chief fire officer, Michael McGuinness, told reporters at a media conference on Thursday morning.
McGuinness said it wasn’t clear how long the fire would continue to burn, but said the intensity has started to lower. When it began, however, the blaze was “quite ferocious”, with “several explosions” turning it into “quite a large intense fire”.
McGuinness said the fire was mainly being fed by various types of hydrocarbon fuels: “Predominantly liquid petrol … and also some gas and vapours that are feeding this fire at the moment.”
Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner, Michelle Cowling, told the ABC the cause was likely a small leak related to a failure in some of the valves of some mechanical equipment. A significant plume of LNG ignited due to “several ignition sources” around the refinery area.
The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said there would be an investigation into the cause of the fire but that it “appears to be an accident at this point”.
Cowling said the fire was “well under control” late on Thursday morning, with all combustion sources cut off by Viva as the firefighting continues.
Due to the size of the tower and extreme heat, it had been difficult for firefighters to access the affected area, Cowling said.
A watch and act alert, urging local residents to shelter indoors, was issued at 1am, but was later downgraded to an advice message on the VicEmergency website about 5.30am.
FRV’s Michelle Cowling said smoke had dissipated in the area, but people in the area were still being advised to keep their windows and doors closed as of midday Thursday.
Fire Rescue Victoria said it had confirmed no contaminants were being spread as a result of the blaze.
The Victorian health minister, Harriet Shing, said there were no known health risks or warnings from the refinery fire, and that updates would be provided through the VicEmergency app.
Shing confirmed that there were no reported injuries and all employees and emergency responders have been accounted for.
As of 10am on Thursday, the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority was showing air quality in the Corio as good, while residents were advised to avoid the water in Corio Bay due to the fire.
Scott Wyatt, the CEO of Viva Energy, which owns the refinery, said the refinery would eventually get to the highest level of production it can while recovery continues. He said the fire was in the petrol area of the plant, which means “naturally” petrol products would be affected.
Michelle Cowling from FRV said the fire was in a transferring area of the plant. “So, in a bit of good news for you, it’s not impacting diesel or gasoline and petroleum production. So that won’t add to the already stressed fuel issues that we’re having.”
The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said petrol, diesel and jet fuel continued to be produced at the refinery at reduced levels as a safety precaution. But he said petrol production “may be impacted for some time”.
The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, has told ABC Radio Melbourne the government has been assured by Viva Energy that there is “no immediate impact on fuel supply”.
The Corio refinery supplies about 50% of Victoria’s fuel, and 10% of Australia’s in total, according to the company’s website. The refinery can produce more than 120,000 barrels of oil per day, manufacturing petrol, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, avgas and low aromatic fuel.
The refinery is just one of two remaining in Australia, and employs more than 1,100 people. The other is Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane. Both rely on government support to stay open.
The ASX said trading in shares of Viva Energy, the company that owns the now-damaged Geelong refinery, have been suspended until the company makes an announcement to the market regarding the impact of the fire, or until trading resumes on Monday.
The Corio refinery represents one of Viva’s main physical assets. The company’s most recent financial results indicate that a five-year maintenance program on the refinery had recently been completed.
The mayor of Geelong, Stretch Kontelj, said the refinery was a significant part of Australia’s fuel supply, and the incident “shows that we have very fragile, very thin energy security platform”.
Gero Farruggio, an analyst at Rystad Energy, told the ABC he believed the government would need to move to stage 3 fuel restrictions as a result of the Corio refinery blaze, up from the current level 2 as of Thursday morning.
Joy Toose, climate campaign manager for Environment Victoria, blamed ageing infrastructure for the refinery blaze, saying it “gives another clear demonstration of why we need to accelerate the transition to renewable energy”.
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