Fuel supply impact from refinery inferno revealed
Almost half of oil production has been disrupted by a massive fire at one of Australia’s only fuel refineries, the Prime Minister said.
The fire broke out late Wednesday at the Viva Energy Geelong refinery southwest of Melbourne, which supplies more than half of Victoria’s fuel and about 10 per cent of the country’s fuel.
Anthony Albanese, who toured the facility on Friday morning after cutting short his Southeast Asia trip, said the incident was regrettable but he was hopeful that production would increase again.
As of Friday, 60 percent of oil production, 80 percent of diesel production and 80 percent of aviation fuel production were being produced at the refinery.
“Of course, like the company, we hope that this will increase in the coming period,” Mr Albanese told reporters.
“The good news is that no one was injured in this incident which occurred and this is a tribute to the professionalism and management issues put in place to deal with an incident such as this.”
Viva said that the refinery, which has been operating at full capacity in recent weeks, will slow down its production for now.
Chief executive Scott Wyatt said there was still some way to go before the site returned to previous levels.
“We are extremely confident that if there is any shortfall in production, we can meet it through our very significant import program,” he said.
“Obviously it’s been a challenging event for our team. It’s a shocking event.”
While the Prime Minister was visiting the facility, a handful of orange-clad workers were seen arriving at the facility’s main office.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said the fire, suspected to have been caused by a gas leak, would be unlikely on its own to move Australia closer to stage three of its four-phase national fuel security plan.
“Obviously the timing of this is terrible, so there is no avoiding it,” Mr. Marles said.
“I don’t think what’s happening here is moving us from one stage to the next, but it’s obviously a set of circumstances that we continue to monitor.”
Australia is currently in the second phase of its national fuel security plan, a practical guide aimed at managing supply challenges related to conflicts in the Middle East.
It’s unclear exactly what the next phase, phase three, will look like, but it will include practical measures to limit fuel use.
The fire primarily affected infrastructure responsible for the production of petroleum and aviation gasoline, which is different from jet fuel and is typically used by small aircraft.
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