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Equipment failure cause of refinery blaze, fire official says
Benita Kolovos
Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner, Michelle Cowling, confirmed the cause of the Corio refinery blaze was equipment failure.
In an update on ABC Radio Melbourne, she said the fire is still not under control but is well contained within a section of the plant:
The part of the plant it’s in is actually a transfer. So, in a bit of good news for you, it’s not impacting diesel or gasoline and petroleum production. So that won’t add to the already stressed fuel issues that we’re having. There’s about 50 firefighters on site from FRV and CFA, as well as Viva has some of their own firefighters. So it’s very well contained. It was an equipment failure in the refinery, Viva is looking into that. So there’ll be a thorough investigation into the failure of how this fire started.
Cowling explained why controlling the fire has been so difficult:
Because of the size of the tower that contains LPG, and there’s no physical way to get in to actually turn the valve off. As you can imagine, it’s quite hot. A significant fire has been burning since about 11pm last night. So until we can really cool that area down, that open valve where that leak has been is still just draining that tank. And at the moment, we’ve got the smartest minds, the engineers working on how to drain that remotely if they can – until we can get someone in.
She said due to the extreme heat, “there’s no human involvement in the extinguishment at the moment. It’s all remote”.
At the moment, they’re just using monitors. So they’re basically hose lines that are not held by any humans.
Key events
Albanese talks fuel supply with Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim
Talks with the head of a major global oil giant and the Malaysian prime minister will fill the final official day of Anthony Albanese’s south-east Asian fuel security tour, after he touched down in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday night.
Malaysia is one of Australia’s top suppliers of both crude oil and refined fuels like petrol and diesel, and the prime minister will be seeking similar assurances about ongoing shipments to those received in Singapore and Brunei over the past week.
Albanese and his counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim, are scheduled to hold formal talks today. The prime minister will also speak with the head of Petronas, one of Asia’s biggest oil producers and refiners.
But Malaysia imports hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian oil and fuel each year, some of which is sold on to Australia. Ukraine has called for a total ban on the use of Russian oil.
Hanson says she only sacked Sean Black because of ‘pile on’
Sarah Basford Canales
Pauline Hanson says her sacking of Sean Black, a former staffer and convicted rapist who worked with One Nation after his jail sentence until Sunday, was “an agreement”, but the populist leader insists it was only because of a “political bloody witch-hunt”.
The Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price fuelled the story on Tuesday night when she said that, speaking as an advocate and survivor of sexual assault, no one would “want to be confronted with the idea of working in the same workspace as an individual such as that”.
Hanson was asked again by Sky News commentator Chris Kenny last night why she fired Black if she didn’t believe he should be let go.
The One Nation leader, who admitted she’d hired him back personally, said it was a “pile-on”:
This is just a political bloody witch-hunt. And I’m shocked by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price [jumping] on the bandwagon with Garth Hamilton … everyone has a chance, a second chance, and he’s been given a chance …
He agreed … to leave. He knew this. He’s worked for the Liberal party. He’s also worked for the Labor party. He’s been a councillor. OK, so he knows politics … it was an agreement between both of us, Chris, and I feel sorry for the poor man and his wife and his kids, and that’s why I said to your producer today, Chris, I didn’t want to discuss this any more about this today on the air, because I think it’s disrespectful to him and his family to keep this going and going.
Read more here:
Equipment failure cause of refinery blaze, fire official says
Benita Kolovos
Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner, Michelle Cowling, confirmed the cause of the Corio refinery blaze was equipment failure.
In an update on ABC Radio Melbourne, she said the fire is still not under control but is well contained within a section of the plant:
The part of the plant it’s in is actually a transfer. So, in a bit of good news for you, it’s not impacting diesel or gasoline and petroleum production. So that won’t add to the already stressed fuel issues that we’re having. There’s about 50 firefighters on site from FRV and CFA, as well as Viva has some of their own firefighters. So it’s very well contained. It was an equipment failure in the refinery, Viva is looking into that. So there’ll be a thorough investigation into the failure of how this fire started.
Cowling explained why controlling the fire has been so difficult:
Because of the size of the tower that contains LPG, and there’s no physical way to get in to actually turn the valve off. As you can imagine, it’s quite hot. A significant fire has been burning since about 11pm last night. So until we can really cool that area down, that open valve where that leak has been is still just draining that tank. And at the moment, we’ve got the smartest minds, the engineers working on how to drain that remotely if they can – until we can get someone in.
She said due to the extreme heat, “there’s no human involvement in the extinguishment at the moment. It’s all remote”.
At the moment, they’re just using monitors. So they’re basically hose lines that are not held by any humans.
Shares in refinery owner suspended pending damage announcement
Jonathan Barrett
Trading in shares of Viva Energy, the company that owns the now-damaged Geelong refinery, have been suspended this morning.
The ASX said that the trading halt will continue until the company makes an announcement to the market regarding the impact of the fire, or until trading resumes on Monday.
Trading halts are typically requested by companies when significant, market-moving events are developing quickly.
The Victorian refinery, which is on fire, represents one of Viva’s main physical assets.
The company’s most recent financial results indicate that a five-year maintenance program on the refinery had recently been completed.
Benita Kolovos
New Victorian health minister says no health risk from refinery blaze
Harriet Shing, sworn in as Victorian health minister yesterday, spoke earlier on ABC Radio Melbourne. She thanked the firefighters battling the blaze and noted that watch and act warnings issued overnight due to air quality concerns had been downgraded this morning.
Shing went on:
The most up-to-date advice we’ve got from the department of health is that there are no known health risks or warnings from the refinery fire. The first point here is that nobody was injured, the workforce has been accounted for, [and] there will obviously be an investigation.
Shing said warnings and updates are being provided through the VicEmergency app:
We have had ongoing information and rolling updates provided this morning … in terms of looking at likely impact for people … there was a large presence of smoke in and around the area at the time and we will continue to monitor the situation, but again, the starting point is no one was hurt. And obviously, the investigation will be necessary from here while operations continue at the refinery.
Benita Kolovos
Energy analyst says it’s time to move to stage three of fuel restrictions
Gero Farruggio, an analyst at Rystad Energy, told ABC AM he believes the government will need to move to stage three fuel restrictions as a result of the Corio refinery blaze.
He said:
The first thing I thought of when I saw that [fire] is that we can’t avoid stage three now. We’re currently at stage two, which is just keep the country running and that’s why the prime minister’s overseas trying to secure supplies. But on seeing refinery burning again, any supplies are crucial right now, and this is about 10% of our domestic one. In particular, for the Victoria region, you just thought this we can’t avoid moving to stage three.
He said even if there is a ceasefire between the US and Iran there will still be “a couple months of disruption”:
We’re planning for this de-escalation and things to resume to normal … that’s the best case scenario, but we maybe don’t have to plan for the worst case scenario, which is, I think you saw the IMF this week looking at the conflict continuing till the end of the year but certainly something in between. And under that situation, then this stage three should come in sooner rather than later, just to secure our supplies and manage demand and ensure we have enough reserves to get through this period.
Petrol production at refinery will be affected during ‘disappointing’ incident for everyone, CEO of Viva Energy says
Scott Wyatt, the CEO of Viva Energy, which owns the refinery, spoke earlier as well.
Wyatt said safety and recovery would be the immediate priority, not production. He told reporters:
I’ve been very proud of the way everyone’s worked together to deal with a very challenging time … This incident is so disappointing for everyone.
Production is not our primary priority today. Today is getting the site safe … We’ll only start increasing production again once we’re confident we can do that safely.
He said the refinery would eventually get to the highest level of production it can while recovery continues. He said the fire was in the petrol area of the plant, which means “naturally” petrol products would be affected.
‘Several explosions’ at refinery overnight as blaze became ferocious
Mick McGuinness, with Fire Rescue Victoria, added in a media conference this morning that it has been a dangerous fire to fight, involving highly flammable materials, both liquids and gases.
He said it wasn’t clear how long the fire will burn, but said the intensity has started to lower. When it began, however, the blaze was “quite ferocious”. McGuinness said:
The fire went from a small fire, through several explosions, to being quite a large intense fire.
It’s still too soon to determine the cause of the fire. McGuinness said the refinery was “well regulated” and subject to a lot of testing and ongoing maintenance.
Benita Kolovos
Fire officer says officials haven’t detected any contaminants spreading from blaze
Earlier this morning, Fire Rescue Victoria assistant chief fire officer, Mick McGuinness, provided an update to ABC Radio Melbourne. Shortly before 7am, he said about 50 firefighting vehicles were continuing to fight the blaze in the Mogas (motor gasoline) plant section of the refinery.
This fire has been quite large overnight. It is still burning at the moment, and we would still declare it as not yet under control … And the fire is mainly being fed by various types of hydrocarbon fuels. So predominantly liquid petrol … and also some gas and vapours that are feeding this fire at the moment.
McGuinness said firefighters there was no contaminants being spread as a result of the blaze:
We were concerned with the smoke that was coming off this fire, so our initial reactions were to get an alert message out to the community. We’ve since been able to have our specialist hazardous materials teams come in from locally Geelong and also in Melbourne and set up some atmospheric monitoring equipment and do a lot of sensing and sampling of not only the atmosphere but also the fire water runoff that we’re using to contain the fire. We’ve been able to determine … that we haven’t detected any sort of contaminants there.
He said the refinery’s sensors were damaged so it was unclear how much fuel remained to keep the fire burning:
We’re predicting that this still could burn for another three or four hours, if not longer. But we are starting to see a reduction in the intensity of the fire, which is an indication that the depressurising of the systems and the pipe work is occurring and that we will see a lesser amount of fuel being available to feed the fire. And of course, that allows us to continue to cool that area more rapidly and then be able to get crews in there to look at how we can start to isolate pipe work and valve systems.
Geelong mayor says refinery fire shows how ‘very fragile’ energy security is
The mayor of Geelong, Stretch Kontelj, said the intensity of the fire at the refinery has subsided “significantly”, but the blaze will still be burning for a “couple more hours”.
Kontelj said the refinery was a significant part of Australia’s fuel supply, and the incident would now be a “national event”. He told RN Breakfast:
It shows that we have very fragile, very thin energy security platform when it comes to refinery, only the two refineries left. And as mayor, I’ve been calling this out since being elected back in 2024, that Viva is not only a significant employer and corporate citizen for Geelong, but it has a significance for Victoria and Australia.
And it just shows that we, as a country, need to invest more in this type of capability.
Benita Kolovos
Union says all workers safe and evacuation from refinery ‘went to plan’
Ronnie Hayden, the state secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers’ Union spoke to ABC Radio Melbourne about the Corio refinery blaze. He said between 50 and 100 workers were on site when the fire broke out about 11pm last night.
Hayden said the evacuation “went to plan”:
These guys have been highly trained in emergency response and emergency evacuation, and I think that’s the main reason why there were no fatalities.
He said while the fire is still burning it “should be out within the next couple of hours”. Once it is, workers and authorities will be able to better understand the impact:
We don’t know until we actually get in. We’re just speculating. I’d be surprised if we weren’t shut down for a few days, but it could be a lot longer. It could get it done quicker. We just need to get in and have a look.
Hayden added its a “70-year-old facility” that has always required regular maintenance:
Our health and safety rep so members are out there, and they identify the issues, and most of them get fixed up pretty quickly.
Coalition unimpressed with defence spending promises
Tom McIlroy
The Coalition has responded to the news that Labor will spend an extra $53bn on defence over the next decade, bringing total spending to about 2.3% to 2.4% of GDP by 2033.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, will outline the plans and release a new national defence strategy on Thursday.
But his shadow minister, James Paterson, is unimpressed.
“The Coalition will carefully review the full details of the new National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program once it is released,” Paterson said.
But one thing is already clear: accounting tricks don’t make Australians safer. Counting money we’ve always spent on things like military pensions as defence spending is a desperate attempt by the Albanese government to pretend they are finally taking our strategic circumstances seriously when they are not.
Australia needs real increases in actual defence spending today to put tangible capability into the hands of war fighters to protect our country. Anything less is an insult to our men and women in uniform and fails to heed the lessons of Ukraine and Iran.
Energy minister says Geelong refinery fire ‘not great timing’, but facility still producing some fuel
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, is speaking about the refinery blaze. He said the refinery is still producing diesel and jet fuel, at reduced capacities. Bowen told ABC News this morning:
Obviously, the fire is still burning so we can’t make any final conclusions about the impact. It’s not a positive development. It will have an impact. I’m sure that petrol production will continue but it may be impacted for some time.
He said the fire was “not great timing”, adding it remained important that people only buy the fuel they need, “no more, no less”, in light of the incident.
Bowen added that it appeared to be an accident at this point.
Look, this is not a positive development in Geelong. Let’s not pretend somehow that this won’t have some sort of impact.
But as I said, we will carefully, methodically, manage it with the refinery and I and Viva will update Australians with the very best and latest information as and when we determine the full impact.
Geelong refinery supplies 50% of Victoria’s fuel, and 10% of Australia’s in total
Viva Energy’s refinery in Geelong supplies about 50% of Victoria’s fuel, and 10% of Australia’s in total, according to the company’s website.
The refinery is just one of two remaining in Australia, and employs more than 1,100 people. The other is Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane. Both rely on government support to stay open.
Viva Energy says on it’s website:
The refinery can process up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, manufacturing petrol, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, avgas and Low Aromatic Fuel to support the Federal Government’s petrol-sniffing prevention program.
These include being Australia’s only manufacturer of hydrocarbon solvents, marine fuel oil, low aromatic fuel, avgas, bitumen and high-quality plastic feedstock used to create food packaging, medical equipment and polymer banknotes.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take things over. Let’s get to it.
Matt Canavan defends Coalition’s migration policy
Ima Caldwell
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, defended the Coalition’s planned crack down on immigrations as “fair and reasonable” and that migrants would understand the policy.
Asked on 7.30 last night how Australia’s migrant communities would see the plan, Canavan referred to the “rigour” of the naturalisation process his Italian grandparents went through in the 1950s and his own publicised section 44 high court citizenship saga (which he said ultimately proved him to be a “dinky-di Aussie”). He said:
It’s fair and reasonable that we set high standards to join the club of Australians and I’m sure migrants here today want to see that …
We have a Government that has put its head in the sand now and has not listened to the Australian people that clearly want change.
Canavan claimed support for Australia’s migration program is “falling off a cliff.”
When the show’s host, Sarah Ferguson, asked again about the specific wording of a policy described as “discriminatory”, Canavan said:
I think we should discriminate on values …
We shouldn’t discriminate on colour, religion, sexuality, gender, but surely … we should discriminate on people who don’t support democracy, who profess support for terrorism or violence, who don’t believe in equality between male and female genders. People who have those views I don’t want them in our country.
Canavan reached for a literary quote: “Having good fences make for good neighbours”.
Ferguson noted:
I’ll comment that the Robert Frost line in that poem was delivered in irony.
But we’ll return to that another day along with many other questions, thank you for joining us …
‘Unprecedented’ fire at oil refinery in Geelong
Fire crews continue to battle an out-of-control blaze at a Geelong refinery that broke out late last night.
Residents in areas south of the Viva oil refinery in Corio – one of Australia’s two remaining refineries – have been warned to stay inside to avoid smoke.
Geelong’s mayor, Stretch Kontelj, told ABC Melbourne radio this morning that the fire was “unprecedented”.
“Speaking to the management, no one can recall an incident of this magnitude either,” he said shortly before 6am on Thursday. “But from reports, it is coming under control.”
The refinery said no one had been reported injured so far, and that there was no immediate impact on fuel supplies.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories and then Nick will take over.
Matt Canavan has defended the Coalition’s planned immigration shake-up as “reasonable and fair” and said it would be accepted as such by migrants already in Australia. More coming up.
Residents in parts of Geelong have been warned to take shelter due to smoke from an out-of-control fire at the Viva oil refinery in Corio – we’ll be bringing you more details soon.
