A major fire at the Geelong oil refinery near Melbourne in Australia on Wednesday 15 April was extinguished on Thursday lunchtime officials said. It's one of Australia's largest and critical plant's. Authorities said it is still producing jet fuel and diesel but at reduced levels.
State fire authorities said the blaze broke out at a 120,000 barrels-per day refinery run by Viva Energy. The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage was not clear at the time of writing but it has been reported there are no injuries.
"This is not a positive development, but obviously there's a long way to go in terms of working out just what the impact is," Energy Minister Chris Bowen told Channel Nine. The plant is still producing jet fuel and diesel but at reduced levels for safety reasons, Bowen said.
Viva Energy's refinery supplies more than half of the fuel in Australia's second most populous state, Victoria, and a tenth of the country's total demand.
The company said it expects output of petrol and aviation gasoline will be affected, but it will meet fuel demand through imports.
Scott Wyatt, Viva Energy CEO, told reporters the primary focus was to completely put out the fire that hit operations at two units at the refinery before assessing damage and safely restoring production.
"All the other units are still operating and still in production but they are at minimum rates to maintain safety across the site," he said.
"We'll only start increasing production again once we're confident that we can do that safely."
Viva's shares were on a trading halt pending an update on the impact of the fire.
“I would expect we'd see a price hike depending on the scale of the damage, and secondly, it reinforces the challenges we have in terms of sovereign and resilient capabilities here,” Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst John Coyne said.
The incident comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to discuss securing fuel supplies with his Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim, following similar trips to Singapore and Brunei.
"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," Albanese said at a media conference in Malaysia's administrative capital, Putrajaya.
Malaysia and Brunei, which produce crude oil and refined products, could increase production but only to a certain degree, Coyne said.
In March the government committed to underwriting a portion of fuel purchases by refiners and suppliers.
Read more:
Small businesses across Russia are increasingly feeling the impact of tighter internet restrictions, including ...
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has reaffirmed the island’s commitment to sovereignty and regional ...
The global housing crisis has reached what UN officials describe as “staggering” proportions, with nearly...
The 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) opened in Baku with ministers, UN officials and urban policy leaders. Participants call for ...
Thousands of displaced families in Gaza are facing growing infestations of rats and insects as worsening sanita...
Australian citizens evacuated from a Dutch-flagged cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have returned home after two weeks overseas. The passengers will now undergo quarantine and further testing in Western Australia.
Just one week after a similar move by Australia, Greece announced that it will ban access to social media for children under the age of 15 from January 1, 2027, as governments around the world weigh tougher rules amid growing concerns over mental health, safety and screen addiction.
Australian police have charged two women linked to the Islamic State group with slavery offences after they returned from Syria, where they had been detained in a refugee camp for more than seven years.
The Australian government will spend billions to boost national fuel stockpiles and create a permanent, state-owned strategic reserve, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
Bulgaria has won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, taking victory in a final overshadowed by a boycott over Israel’s participation and the war in Gaza.
At least eight people were injured after a driver rammed a car into pedestrians in the northern Italian city of Modena, authorities said on Saturday. Four of the victims were reported to be in serious condition.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington could destroy Iran’s infrastructure “in two days,” while Tehran warned the U.S. would face growing economic costs from the conflict. The remarks came as Hezbollah reported new attacks on Israeli forces despite an extended Lebanon ceasefire.
At least eight people have died and 32 others were injured after a freight train collided with a public bus at a railway crossing in Bangkok on Saturday (16 May), triggering a fire that quickly spread through the vehicle.
U.S. President Donald Trump says China's Xi Jinping agreed Iran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran prepares a new shipping mechanism. Tensions over the U.S. blockade and stalled nuclear talks continue to disrupt global oil supplies.
Small businesses across Russia are increasingly feeling the impact of tighter internet restrictions, including limits on the messaging app Telegram, stricter controls on virtual private networks, and repeated mobile internet outages.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has reaffirmed the island’s commitment to sovereignty and regional stability following the recent meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
At least four people have been killed in a major Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory, including the Moscow region, which authorities say faced its largest aerial assault in more than a year.
China has launched the world’s first experiment to study how artificial human embryos develop in space, marking a major step in understanding whether humans could one day reproduce beyond Earth.
Every day, an elderly woman in China’s Shandong province looks forward to a video call from her son. He asks about her health, tells her he has been busy with work, and promises he will come home once he has saved enough money. She tells him she misses him. He tells her to take care of herself.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment