Essay by Eric Worrall
First published JoNova – Large fire and explosion reported at one of Australia’s three operating refineries.
Firefighters tackle huge blaze at Geelong oil refinery ‘not yet under control’
In short:
A fire has broken out at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries, with emergency services responding to reports of “explosions and flames”.
The blaze was not yet under control as of early Thursday morning, according to Fire Rescue Victoria.
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A watch and act has since been issued for a number of suburbs in Geelong, with residents being warned to close windows to keep out hazardous smoke.
In a statement, a Fire Rescue Victoria spokesperson said they were called to the Viva Energy Refinery at 11:05pm following multiple reports of “explosions and flames”.
“Firefighters arrived on scene to find a significant fire impacting the refinery,” the spokesperson said.”All refinery staff have been accounted for. This incident is not yet under control.”
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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-16/geelong-corio-refinery-fire/106569692
A video of the fire (from JoNova);
Although most sources including the article above say Australia has two refineries, we actually have three – Lytton Refinery in Brisbane and Viva Energy in Geelong, the refinery which is currently on fire, and the small Eromanga Refinery in Western Queensland. Eromanga is currently providing a lifeline to Queensland farmers in remote Western regions, a lifeline which has long been defended by locals against the refinery closing green lunatics who run Australia.
No word yet on what caused the Geelong fire. Obviously sabotage is a possibility, but refineries can be dangerous places, particularly when they are not part of a larger network. One can only speculate about staff working long hours, pushing ancient equipment to its limits to try to make up the coming shortfall in Aussie fuel supplies.
Supporting infrastructure matters, it’s not just the refineries which are needed. I once heard about a terrifying repair on a large ruptured LPG tank in the recently decommissioned refinery in Melbourne, a story which didn’t quite make it to the mainstream media. A welder had to patch a crack in the tank. The gas ignited as he was welding, producing a 10ft sheet of fire. Thanks to Australia’s lack of gas storage infrastructure, there was nowhere to put the gas – the repair had to be conducted while the tank was under pressure.
Where this Geelong disaster leaves Australia is anyone’s guess. Despite the scale of the fire, refineries are built to be resilient, with large Earth embankments around sensitive storage sites and equipment, so it is possible the refinery will be back online in days. Or it might take weeks or require a complete rebuild. One thing for sure, Australia is now even more exposed to the international fuel crisis.
Update: It looks like the fire is under control, and the refinery is still operating, producing diesel and aviation fuel, the fire apparently only affected gasoline production.
