Delayed maintenance not linked to dramatic blaze at the oil refinery in Geelong 'at this stage', as more details are released about the fire.
Maintenance deferred around a month ago was unrelated to the outbreak of a fire at Geelong's oil refinery late on Wednesday night, which took around 12 hours to extinguish, Viva Energy's Geelong refinery manager Bill Patterson told media on Thursday afternoon.
“That change related to a decision to not perform maintenance to enhance performance on the plant in light of the events in the Middle East. So there wasn't a link between any delays of maintenance and this event that we know of,” Patterson said.
"Of course, though, I don't want to prejudice any investigation. We'll definitely look into all the details of this incident to learn from it.”
As of Thursday afternoon, fuel was still being made at a “pretty decent rate” at the refinery according to Patterson, despite the recently extinguished fire.
It is understood petrol production was impacted by the fire, while diesel and aviation fuel production capabilities were left largely untouched. However, no firm numbers have been shared as to what extent the plant's petrol production could be reduced as a result of the fire.
“We've got substantial stocks of petrol and our supply, apart from the petrol that we make here at the refinery,” Patterson said.
“We do import petrol into the country. We also have arrangements with other participants in supply markets. So I think we're, on the basis of our outlook. We're pretty confident that there's not going to be an issue on that front.”
According to Viva Energy, its refinery in Geelong supplies over 50 per cent of Victoria’s and 10 per cent of Australia’s fuel.
The fire began at around 11:00 pm on Wednesday, and continued to blaze until it was reported extinguished in the early afternoon on Thursday.
The refinery in Geelong is one of just two refineries in Australia, with the other being the Lytton Oil Refinery in Queensland. Both refineries have deferred some planned maintenance in recent months as Australia’s oil supply faces challenges due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The fire in Geelong was caused by a leakage of flammable gas which was then ignited. An investigation is currently underway into what initially caused the gas to leak, and then how it was ignited.
Patterson said the equipment that was damaged is used in the process of making both regular and specialty fuels, but that the refinery has “other alternatives that do help to mitigate the impact of not having that unit.”
“The unit that's been impacted is a unit that... turns [Liquefied Petroleum Gas], into a gasoline component. That gasoline component is used for a number of purposes, including in the blending of normal regular gasoline that you buy from your service stations, but also in some specialty products,
"[products] like low aromatic gasoline that's provided to remote communities around the country, and [the gasoline component] is also an ingredient in aviation gasoline, which shouldn't be confused with jet fuel. Jet fuel is what the large airliners run on, and that's not impacted.”
Low aromatic fuel is a speciality unleaded petrol that is designed to contain less of the aromatic chemicals that can cause intoxication when inhaled. This discourages the dangerous and deadly practice of sniffing petrol.
Low aromatic fuel costs more to produce, but its production is subsidised by the Australian government to allow it to be sold at a similar price to regular petrol. It is dyed purple to make it easily identifiable.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen this morning downplayed any suggestions of sabotage as a potential cause of the refinery fire: “Look, there'll be an investigation. There will be an investigation now, but at this point, no suspicious circumstances, you know, all appears to be accidental.”
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
