A fire broke out at Viva Energy’s Corio facility in Geelong, Australia, early Tuesday morning. The blaze lasted for 13 hours before being extinguished.
The fire was contained to the Mogas section of the refinery, which produces motor gasoline. As of midday, the full impact on petrol supplies remains unconfirmed.
The Geelong refinery is crucial; it supplies around half of Victoria’s fuel and 10 percent of Australia’s total fuel. This incident raises alarms about energy resilience in the region.
Details remain unconfirmed regarding the exact cause of the fire. Investigations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, within hours of the Geelong incident, Ukrainian drones struck the Tuapse Oil Refinery in Russia. This facility is one of the largest oil refineries in Russia.
The Tuapse refinery has a processing capacity of approximately 12 million tons of petroleum products per year. Reports indicate that the fire there intensified and spread to neighboring reservoirs.
Tragically, two children were killed in this drone strike, with a total of four casualties reported. The Tuapse Oil Refinery plays a critical role in supplying fuel to the Russian military.
Chris Bowen remarked, “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.” Experts warn that these events could significantly stress Australia’s energy supply chain.
Professor Sajid Anwar noted that coupled with the cancellation of six oil tankers scheduled for April delivery to Australia, this fire represents a critical stress test for Australia’s energy resilience.
Still, production of jet fuel and diesel continues at Geelong—indicating that not all operations are affected. Yet petrol production remains halted due to the ongoing situation.
This sequence of events highlights underlying structural issues within Australia’s refining capacity. Over recent decades, Australia has reduced its domestic refining capabilities significantly, increasing dependence on imported refined fuels.