Adds fire extinguished status, cause of incident and impact on operations.
A fire that broke out at Viva Energy's 120,000 b/d Geelong refinery in Victoria, Australia on 15 April has been extinguished, Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) said at 12:04 AEST (02:04 GMT) today.
The incident was first reported at 23:07 local time, on 15 April with onlookers describing explosions and flames. The fire was contained within the motor gasoline plant area and involved liquid fuels and gases, FRV said at 4:58am. The fire was caused by equipment failure, FRV deputy commissioner Michelle Cowling said.
"The facility remains running, on reduced production rates... the impacts will be predominantly to the production of gasoline and aviation gasoline," Viva said. "There is no immediate impact to fuel supply" and it expects to "replace any lost production through its fuel import program."
A customer of the refinery said Viva had communicated that the fire was isolated to a small area within the motor spirits section and was believed to have been caused by a ruptured pipe. All diesel has been lifted from the Newport terminal, with deliveries continuing on schedule, the customer added.
The 111,402dwt Bluefin Pearl, carrying 447,300 bl of crude from South Australia's Cooper basin, arrived off Geelong just hours before the fire started. The shipment was brought forward and split into separate parcels, enabling earlier delivery of part of the volume late last month.
Viva said there is no immediate impact on fuel supplies, according to FRV.
The refinery supplies about 10pc of Australia's fuel and is the larger of the country's two remaining refineries, alongside Ampol's 109,000 b/d Lytton site in Queensland state, following a series of closures since 2009.
Geelong is Australia's only producer of jet fuel, aviation gasoline and bitumen, making it increasingly critical to national fuel security since the outbreak of the US Iran war in late February.
Viva produced 99,000 b/d at Geelong last year and will run the refinery until at least 30 June 2030 under a fresh subsidy deal, struck with the federal government last month.
Australia has 23mn litres of aviation gasoline used in small aircrafts in storage, energy minister Chris Bowen said. This equates to around 116 days of consumption.
Viva said it expects to offset any production losses through imports. Petrol production is likely to be affected in the near term, Bowen said at a press conference today. This follows additional imports secured earlier this week, with the government confirming it had purchased 570,000 bl of gasoil under Australia's new strategic reserve framework.
The energy ministers meeting with state, territory and New Zealand counterparts would be held next week as planned, Bowen said. National Cabinet meeting could be convened if conditions deteriorate, but Australia's fuel supply remained stable despite the refinery fire, he added.
Trading in Viva Energy securities was halted on 16 April, with normal trading expected to resume by 20 April at the latest.
