The Viva refinery fire raises new questions about the impact on petrol sniffing in remote communities, supply of unleaded petrol, and about the ADF’s fuel supply as production in one of the two remaining refineries in the country could face significant disruption.
It is also the only manufacturer of bitumen, polypropylene, hydrocarbon solvents, and Avgas in the country, the company’s 2025 annual report read.
Unleaded petrol supply could be particularly exposed to domestic production hitches.
While Australia imports most of its refined petrol needs – only 21 per cent of 2025 consumption was domestically refined – Australia manufactured domestically 35 per cent of its unleaded petroleum consumption in 2025, compared to 13 per cent of diesel and 15 per cent of aviation fuel.
This is more so the case given the company and the federal government have indicated petrol refining has been most impacted by the fire.
Data is not available to break down what share of each refined petroleum product type each of the country’s two remaining refineries produced, but the figures do nonetheless show that supply of different fuel types are differently exposed to domestic production failures.
The Viva refinery is also a major supplier to the Australian Defence Force and announced in 2023 that it had completed a “strategically significant contract” with the ADF to supply “aviation, marine, and ground fuel” to all defence fuel installations in the country.
“Viva Energy will also be responsible for fuel supply to ADF aircraft and vessels at all commercial airports, ports, and marinas in Australia and around the world,” the company said at the time.
That deal would see its Geelong plant produce “a military specification aviation turbine fuel used on aircraft carriers” that was previously entirely imported.
It is unclear how much the fire at the refinery would affect this production given Energy Minister Chris Bowen had earlier indicated jet fuel and diesel production were not as affected by the fire but said the refinery would nonetheless produce those two types at a “reduced” rate as a precautionary measure.
And the company is the only producer of low-aromatic fuel in the country and supplies 35 million litres annually under a federal government program to reduce substance misuse in remote communities.
There are about 190 service stations in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia that stock low aromatic fuel, mostly in remote areas with a high concentration of Indigenous Australians.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency says low aromatic fuel is “widely available” in Arnhem Land, Kakadu, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Central Australia, and Goldfields.
Extracted in full from: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/viva-refinery-fire-threatens-australian-defence-force-fuel-and-antisniffing-petrol-supply/news-story/a379cf64c250480e5a3d218d20bc79aa
