April 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nPetrol production impacted – refinery boss, minister<\/p>\n
The fire would affect petrol production, Viva Energy chief executive Scott Wyatt said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe units that are impacted are in the petrol part of a collection of units that do make petrol,\u201d he told the Australian Financial Review.<\/p>\n
The priority was to make the site safe for workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve still got work to do, as Fire Rescue Victoria have said, over the course of the morning, to really contain and extinguish the fire, make it safe, understand what damage has occurred, and understand how we can safely restore production across the site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen told the ABC that it wasn\u2019t clear how fuel supplies would be affected, but the fire \u201cwill have an impact\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure petrol production will continue, but it may be impacted for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Not suspicious\u2019 – fire chief<\/p>\n
The \u201cquite ferocious\u201d fire started in the part of the refinery where motor gasoline was produced, with 50 firefighters sent to put it out, Fire Rescue Victoria assistant chief Michael McGuinness said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some sort of leak, there\u2019s hydrocarbons, flammable liquids which very readily caught fire\u201d, he told the ABC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was burning in an area of approximately 30 metres by 30 metres. There have been several small explosions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire went from a small fire, through several explosions, to be quite a large and intense fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fire would be investigated, but was not being treated as suspicious, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt may very well be just a malfunction of a piece of pipework or a valve.\u201d<\/p>\n