Uncertainty over fuel supplies after major fire at oil refinery in Geelong

An "unprecedented" fire has broken out in Geelong at one of the two remaining oil refineries producing fuel for Australians, raising concerns about fuel supplies. 

The refinery produces 50 per cent of Victoria's and 10 per cent of Australia's fuel and is one of two facilities — the other being in Brisbane — that can refine fuel domestically. 

Those two plants have been in the spotlight in recent weeks, as the Iran war has caused a global energy crisis, putting pressure on oil shipments worldwide.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said it was not yet clear how fuel supplies would be affected by the fire, which started just after 11pm at Viva Energy's Corio plant.

"It's not a positive development. It will have an impact," he said.

In an update at midday, Fire Rescue Victoria said the fire was extinguished but that fire crews would remain at the scene.

Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said the company's focus was on making the site safe before a full assessment of the impact on fuel production could be made.

"There are units that make petrol that haven't been impacted by this incident as well, but naturally petrol will be one of the products that are potentially impacted," he said.

"We'll only start increasing production again once we're confident we can do that safely. We'll obviously have to do it without these two units in operation."

Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner Michelle Cowling said an "equipment failure" caused the fire, which is contained to a part of the plant known as the transfer.

"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," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.

Refinery manager Bill Patterson said other units at the refinery may be able to pick up the slack if the fire affects production.

"We're still running at pretty decent rates at the moment given these units are pretty small in the scheme of things, but they are important units for the longer term," he said.

Earlier, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) issued a "watch and act" alert for large parts of Geelong, warning "anyone located south of Refinery Road Corio" to take shelter indoors immediately.

Dozens of firefighters battle 'ferocious' blaze

Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) was called to the Viva Energy Refinery at 11:05pm following multiple reports of "explosions and flames".

FRV Assistant Chief Fire Officer Michael McGuinness said the fire started in the "mogas" section of the plant where motor gasoline was produced.

"There's been some sort of leak, there's hydrocarbons, flammable liquids which very readily caught fire," he said.

Mr McGuinness said the blaze was "quite ferocious" and 50 firefighters were called in to suppress it.

"The fire went from a small fire, through several explosions, to be quite a large and intense fire."

FRV said all staff had been accounted for.

"Investigations will need to take place, but it's not being treated as suspicious; it may very well be just a malfunction of a piece of pipework or a valve," Mr McGuinness said.

"There's no significant impact or supply of fuel that's being impacted at this stage."

Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj said the fire was "unprecedented."

"I've spoken to management there this morning and needless to say, this has been a huge shock and has rocked them," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

Mr Kontelj said the refinery's operators were unable to identify a cause of the fire at this point.

He said areas of the plant not affected by the fire were continuing to operate.

"Luckily and fortunately, no-one's been injured, so to that extent we've got to be grateful," he said.

Refinery likened to 'war zone' as blaze hit

Australian Workers Union branch secretary Ronnie Hayden said the refinery "looked like a war zone" when the fire broke out last night.

He said up to 50 staff were working at the time, all of whom escaped unhurt.

"I hear a lot of people saying it's extremely lucky, I put it down to the skill of our workforce in there," he said.

"They've been doing this for 70 years; they know what to do if something goes wrong."

Mr Hayden said it was too early to say what effect the fire would have on the refinery's operations.

"This will be pretty hard for a lot of the workers, a lot of their families. Not just the fear of what could have happened, but also now the fear of what will happen in the future."

Jackie Limsowtin was at home less than a kilometre from the refinery when it caught alight at around 11pm last night.

"It sounded like a fighter jet was going right beside our house," she said.

"The sky just lit up really, really red. I just thought 'they're having a large flare at the refinery' but then the sound was just so loud."

Ms Limsowtin said closer to 2am they felt "the whole house shuddering".

"It was a little bit scary not knowing what was going on," she said.

Ben Young was staying at a friend's place nearby the refinery when the blaze broke out last night.

A friend had told him he heard explosions and they could see the fire from the Corio home.

"It was like a shockwave. He could feel it," Mr Young said.

He went down to the site, where he said there was a sound like an intense vacuum.

"It was a pretty loud, blowing kind of sucking noise … you couldn't hear the firies."

One East Geelong resident said she could see the fire from her verandah.

"The sky was so bright, and I thought it must be one hell of a fire because there's a really loud, slow rumbling sound," she said.

Viva Energy's website stated that its Geelong refinery could process up to 120,000 barrels of oil a day, including "manufacturing petrol, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, avgas and Low Aromatic Fuel".

The website said the Geelong plant was "a major hazard facility" but that the company was committed to "operating it safely and responsibly".