silverguide.site –

It was 13 hours before the fire raging in one of only two Australian oil refineries was extinguished.

It could have been far longer: Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner, Michelle Cowling, said it was quite remarkable that firefighters so adroitly overcame flames that, according to some reports, leapt 100 metres into the air at Viva Energy’s Corio refinery, just east of Geelong.

What will linger are questions about how the fire started and what impact it will have amid a global fuel crisis with no end in sight.

People who live near the refinery too were hoping for answers at a community meeting on Thursday night, including about why they were not sent text messages warning of the emergency.

So much remains uncertain: from the smallest details of uncovering what ignited the fire, to working through when huge ships carrying oil will be allowed to dock again at the rear of the refinery in Corio Bay.

The fire broke out just after 11pm on Wednesday, with Fire Rescue Victoria were alerted to the blaze by triple zero calls “reporting explosions and flames”.

It continued to burn until it was deemed under control shortly after 12pm on Thursday.

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the fire was clearly “not a good development” but said Viva was confident disruptions would be minimal.

“We don’t know exactly what the impact on petrol production will be,” Bowen said.

“To be fair to everyone, we’re still assessing the damage.”

He said production wouldn’t come to an end in Geelong, adding Viva was confident they would be able to replace the impacted petrol production with imports. Bowen will visit the site on Friday with prime minister Anthony Albanese, who will head to Geelong after cutting short his fuel security visit to Malaysia.

Bill Patterson, Viva Energy’s executive general manager of energy and infrastructure, said the fire started in the Mogas (motor gas) section of the refinery.

That section is used to combine LPG into gasoline-type molecules, which are later used in fuel blending and specialty products.

“Obviously, we’ve still got to look into the full extent of the damage as we get better and better access to the scene, and that’s definitely very much work in progress,” Patterson said on Thursday afternoon.

“We’re still making petrol, diesel and jet fuel at pretty decent rates, so it hasn’t been a very large impact at this stage.”

According to the Viva Energy website, the refinery can process about 120,000 barrels of oil each day. Last month the company said it was able to maintain supplies despite the war in Iran as it was not reliant on fuel from the Middle East.

Patterson said that, while the cause of the fire was still being investigated, there was no indication it had occurred because of maintenance issues or an increase in production at the site. Bowen also said the fire appeared to have been accidental, saying there was “no evidence” it was sabotage.

Unions said while the refinery was 70 years old, they had no specific maintenance concerns about how it had recently been operated.

“Some years ago…it was a big concern, and we had numerous incidents, it was shocking really, but in the last five to six years it’s certainly improved,” Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser, Tony Hynds, said.

Viva Energy’s chief executive, Scott Wyatt, said getting the site safe was the immediate priority, rather than any production factors.

“We’ll only start increasing production again once we’re confident we can do that safely,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, the smoke had cleared, but what appeared to be blackening could be seen on one of the stacks at the refinery.

What could not be tell was the extent of the damage inside.

Those nearby when the flames erupted were lucky to escape, and may well need support even if the global fuel crisis starts to settle.

“It was a difficult night and not just my team, that extends to the other first responders,” Patterson said.

“It was a difficult night and it will be a difficult time to come for people.”