By Thomas Morgan, ABC
In short:
A fire has broken out at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries, with emergency services responding to reports of “explosions and flames”.
The blaze was yet to be brought under control, Fire Rescue Victoria said early today.
All refinery staff have been accounted for.
An “unprecedented” fire has broken out in Geelong at one of Australia’s two operational oil refineries, raising concerns about fuel supplies.
The refinery produces 50 percent of Victoria’s and 10 percent of Australia’s fuel and is one of two facilities – the other being in Brisbane – that can refine fuel domestically.
Those two plants have been in the spotlight in recent weeks, as the Iran war has caused a global energy crisis, putting pressure on oil shipments worldwide.
The Victorian government said this morning that no impact on petrol and diesel production or storage capacity had been identified.
People living in nearby suburbs were warned about hazardous smoke from the blaze.
Photo: ABC News
However, federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said it was not yet clear how fuel supplies would be affected.
“It’s not a positive development. It will have an impact,” he said.
“I’m sure petrol production will continue, but it may be impacted for some time.”
VIVA Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said the company’s focus was on making the site safe before a full assessment of the impact on fuel production could be made.
Smoke was still visible coming from the refinery fire this morning.
Photo: Tara Whitchurch / ABC News
“There are units that make petrol that haven’t been impacted by this incident as well, but naturally petrol will be one of the products that are potentially impacted,” he said.
“We’ll only start increasing production again once we’re confident we can do that safely. We’ll obviously have to do it without these two units in operation.”
Earlier, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) issued a Watch and Act for a large swathe of Geelong, warning “anyone located south of Refinery Road Corio” to take shelter indoors immediately.
The advice was downgraded this morning, with the CFA advising that the “threat was reduced”.
“The fire is still being fought by firefighters, but there is no threat to the public,” the advice said.
“Smoke may still impact the area between Plantation Road and Cox Road, and between Bacchus Marsh Road and the waterfront.”
The CFA advised that traffic in the area might be affected as crews battled the blaze.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) was called to the Viva Energy Refinery at 11:05pm (AEST) following multiple reports of “explosions and flames”.
FRV Assistant chief fire officer Michael McGuinness said the fire started in the “mogas” section of the plant where motor gasoline was produced.
“There’s been some sort of leak, there’s hydrocarbons, flammable liquids which very readily caught fire,” he said.
“It was burning in an area of approximately 30 metres by 30 metres. There have been several small explosions.”
McGuinness said the blaze was “quite ferocious” and 50 firefighters were called in to suppress it.
“The fire went from a small fire, through several explosions, to be quite a large and intense fire.”
FRV said all staff had been accounted for, but the fire was not yet under control.
“Investigations will need to take place, but it’s not being treated as suspicious; it may very well be just a malfunction of a piece of pipework or a valve,” McGuinness said.
“There’s no significant impact or supply of fuel that’s being impacted at this stage.”
Photo: ABC News / Andy Ware
He said the fire would continue to burn until at least midday but had shown signs of a “drop off in intensity.”
Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj said the fire was “unprecedented” and would burn for some hours yet.
“I’ve spoken to management there this morning and needless to say, this has been a huge shock and has rocked them,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“The fire is still burning and will have to just burn out. Because of the intensity, it was difficult for the fire units to do much other than to watch it burn out.”
Kontelj said the refinery’s operators were unable to identify a cause of the fire at this point.
He said areas of the plant not affected by the fire were continuing to operate.
“Luckily and fortunately, no-one’s been injured, so to that extent we’ve got to be grateful,” he said.
Australian Workers Union branch secretary Ronnie Hayden said the refinery “looked like a war zone” when the fire broke out last night.
He said up to 50 staff were working at the time, all of whom escaped unhurt.
“I hear a lot of people saying it’s extremely lucky, I put it down to the skill of our workforce in there,” he said.
“They’ve been doing this for 70 years; they know what to do if something goes wrong.”
Hayden said it was too early to say what effect the fire would have on the refinery’s operations.
“With this being one of only two in Australia, our hope is it’s getting in there, getting it fixed and getting everyone back to work,” he said.
“This will be pretty hard for a lot of the workers, a lot of their families. Not just the fear of what could have happened, but also now the fear of what will happen in the future.”
One East Geelong resident said she could see the fire from her verandah.
“The sky was so bright, and I thought it must be one hell of a fire because there’s a really loud, slow rumbling sound,” she said.
“It must be very frightening for the people living in Corio and Norlane.”
Viva Energy’s website stated that its Geelong refinery could process up to 120,000 barrels of oil a day, including “manufacturing petrol, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, avgas and Low Aromatic Fuel”.
The website said the Geelong plant was “a major hazard facility” but that the company was committed to “operating it safely and responsibly”.
-ABC