Anthony Albanese says Australia has secured an additional 100 million litres of diesel from Brunei and South Korea on his second trip to southeast Asia in the past week, as an inferno which engulfed one of the nation’s only two oil refineries is extinguished.
Part of Viva Energy’s oil refinery in Corio, near Geelong, went up in flames overnight after reports of multiple explosions.
By Thursday afternoon, the blaze had been extinguished.
The facility contributes 10 per cent to the national fuel stockpile and provides Victoria with 50 per cent of its fuel supply. It can also process up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Speaking from Malaysia alongside that country’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, Mr Albanese said the fire in Geelong led to “very distressing scenes”.
“On a positive note, it is good that there was no workers harmed and no human impact of this fire,” he said.
Mr Albanese said there would need to be an assessment of the impact of the fire.
Shortly after, Mr Albanese announced the first of many expected shipments secured under the government’s new strategic reserve powers.
“The purchase of more than 570,000 barrels of additional diesel has been done by Viva (Energy), made possible because of the decision that my government made early in this global crisis to empower Export Finance Australia,” he said.
Anthony Albanese says Australia has secured an additional 100 million litres of diesel from Brunei and South Korea on his second trip to southeast Asia in the past week, as an inferno which engulfed one of the nation’s only two oil refineries is extinguished.
Part of Viva Energy’s oil refinery in Corio, near Geelong, went up in flames overnight after reports of multiple explosions.
By Thursday afternoon, the blaze had been extinguished.
The facility contributes 10 per cent to the national fuel stockpile and provides Victoria with 50 per cent of its fuel supply. It can also process up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Speaking from Malaysia alongside that country’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, Mr Albanese said the fire in Geelong led to “very distressing scenes”.
“On a positive note, it is good that there was no workers harmed and no human impact of this fire,” he said.
Mr Albanese said there would need to be an assessment of the impact of the fire.
Shortly after, Mr Albanese announced the first of many expected shipments secured under the government’s new strategic reserve powers.
“The purchase of more than 570,000 barrels of additional diesel has been done by Viva (Energy), made possible because of the decision that my government made early in this global crisis to empower Export Finance Australia,” he said.
Fire extinguished
The blaze in Geelong was extinguished by Thursday afternoon.
The cause was likely valve equipment failure, Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) Deputy Commissioner Michelle Cowling said.
But she clarified the incident would not impact “diesel or gasoline and petroleum production”.
Speaking before the FRV update, Energy Minister Chris Bowen told the ABC the blaze was “not a positive development”.
“Let’s not pretend somehow that this won’t have some sort of impact,” he said.
“But as I said, we will carefully, methodically, manage it with the refinery, and I and Viva will update Australians with the very best and latest information as and when we determine the full impact.”
He earlier told Seven’s Sunrise “diesel and jet fuel continue to be produced at the refinery”.
“At this point, the impact is mainly on petrol production,” he said.
Viva Energy chief executive Scott Wyatt later confirmed at a press conference that machinery producing petrol would be affected.
“The units that are impacted are in the petrol complex, are part of the collection of units that do make petrol,” he said.
“But 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 depending how we operate the units after.”
Viva Energy also entered a trading halt on the Australian sharemarket after the fire.
The halt was requested pending an announcement from the organisation about the impact of the fire.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, who is the federal member for Curio, advised residents to “keep an eye on advice and listen to emergency services”.
“As far as we understand all workers are okay and accounted for but this has no doubt been a stressful evening for them and for residents in the area,” he wrote.
Earlier, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie told Seven’s Sunrise she had fears the fire would further strain petrol supplies already under pressure from the Iran war.
As a result, the blaze could have far-reaching consequences for key industries, especially for regional communities that depend on aviation to access essential services, including healthcare, Senator McKenzie said.
She described the situation as “absolutely catastrophic” and that Australians would be “worse off” when it came to fuel crisis as a result.
“It’s not just families that are suffering, and as we’ll get to as we go through the news, it’s businesses that are literally going broke,” she said.
“It’s not just the trucking industry, it’s agriculture, construction industry. We are the most dependent nation globally, per capita, on diesel, and so when these type of things happen, it’s going to have a catastrophic flow on impact.
“They’re not going to get (the refinery) up and running tomorrow or next week.”
Mr Bowen has previously said 4.1 billion litres of crude oil, diesel, petrol and jet fuel had been locked in to arrive in Australia over the next four weeks.
Trade Minister Don Farrell earlier told ABC’s Radio National the fire was a “serious issue” and hoped no “serious damage” had been done.
It was a sentiment echoed by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor who told ABC Brisbane the Viva Energy was a very “important” facility.
“I was deeply concerned when I saw the video of that fire down there,” he said.
While the incident was worrying, Mr Taylor highlighted Australia’s key vulnerability was diesel.
“It’s clearly in the petroleum part of the operation, which if there’s any good news … (because) diesel is what we are most concerned about and should be most concerned about right now,” he said.
“But it’s still a matter of great concern. This is up to 10 per cent of our fuel supply that we rely on. And we need it to be operating at full tilt.”
As of Mr Bowen’s last update, two per cent of Australian petrol stations have run dry of diesel.
Extracted in full from: https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/viva-energy-oil-refinery-fire-will-have-impact-on-petrol-production-bowen/news-story/0e857fab445dca3edcc75cd3bf35e39e
