An explosive fire at a Geelong oil refinery – which supplies half of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of the nation’s – has been extinguished, though petrol production continues to be affected and authorities warn the full extent of the damage is still unknown.
The blaze at the Viva Energy facility in Corio – one of two refineries left in Australia – broke out just after 11pm Wednesday, with Fire Rescue Victoria alerted to the blaze by multiple calls to triple zero “reporting explosions and flames”.
It continued to burn for 13 hours before FRV confirmed the fire had been extinguished and the incident was deemed under control shortly after 12pm on Thursday.
FRV said the blaze “appears to have been caused by an equipment failure” and it will investigate alongside WorkSafe, Victoria police and Viva Energy.
“Firefighters remain on scene and we continue to monitor the situation and work with Viva and partner agencies to ensure the safe operation of the site,” FRV said.
No one was injured in the blaze but a watch-and-act alert urging residents to shelter indoors was issued at 1am, which was later downgraded to an advice message on the VicEmergency website about 5.30am. It has subsequently said there was no longer a threat to the publicand residents were “able to resume normal activities”.
Authorities have also stressed that hazardous materials teams have not detected any contaminants in air or water tests, and an Environment Protection Authority pollution response unit could be seen arriving at the refinery shortly before 10.30am. There was relatively little smoke seen from the gates of the facility that time, although roads around the site remained closed.
Geelong’s mayor, Stretch Kontelj, described it as “unprecedented” in scale.
The FRV deputy commissioner Michelle Cowling on Thursday morning said the cause of the blaze appeared to be equipment failure – probably a leak or a valve malfunction within the Mogas (motor gas) section of the refinery.
“It was an equipment failure in the refinery, Viva is looking into that,” Cowling said. “There’ll be a thorough investigation into the failure [and] how this fire started.”
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.
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.
Wyatt said the fire was in the petrol area of the plant, which “naturally” meant petrol products would be affected.
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 there would be an impact on production of petrol.
“I’m sure that petrol production will continue but it may be impacted for some time,” Bowen told ABC News Breakfast.
He said it was “not great timing” given concerns about fuel security, but added that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was making “very good progress” on sourcing extra supplies from overseas in a “febrile international environment”.
Speaking from Malaysia, Albanese said the fire was “very distressing” and there would be “consequences for fuel supply”.
“We’ll continue to work with the company to do what we can to make sure that anything that is offline is brought online as soon as possible,” he said.
Gero Farruggio, an analyst at Rystad Energy, said the government should move to stage-three fuel restrictions as a result of the blaze.
“Stage three should come in sooner rather than later, just to secure our supplies and manage demand and ensure we have enough reserves to get through this period,” Farruggio told ABC Radio Melbourne.
But the premier, Jacinta Allan, said such calls only caused “stress and uncertainty”. She said it was “too soon” to know the impact of the blaze.
“It will take some time to manage this site and then move to assessing the impact,” Allan said. “The advice remains … that our overall levels of supply coming into the country continue to support the level of activity that we need.”
The state’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said there would be “no immediate impact on fuel supply”.
“[Viva] also have said that petrol or gasoline, of all of the fuel types that are under global pressure right now, is the most easiest fuel to be able to source,” D’Ambrosio said.
Ronnie Hayden, the state secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers’ Union, told ABC Radio Melbourne that between 50 and 100 workers had been on site when the fire broke out and that the evacuation “went to plan”.
“These guys have been highly trained in emergency response and emergency evacuation, and I think that’s the main reason why there were no fatalities.”
Hayden said on Thursday morning workers and authorities be able to better understand the impact once extinguished.
“I’d be surprised if we weren’t shut down for a few days, but it could be a lot longer. It could get it done quicker. We just need to get in and have a look.”
The Viva refinery was a “70-year-old facility” that had always required regular maintenance, he added. “Our health and safety rep members are out there, and they identify the issues, and most of them get fixed up pretty quickly.”
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