Emergency crews have extinguished a fire at one of Australia’s two oil refineries, but experts have raised concerns over the country’s oil supply amid ongoing instability with global supplies.
The blaze was put out at the Viva Oil Refinery in Corio, near Geelong, with the incident declared under control after the fire burned for 13 hours.
While the site handles volatile substances including LPG, all employees and emergency personnel were accounted for with no reported injuries. Officials confirmed that air and water quality monitoring show no significant impact on the surrounding environment.
The blaze appears to have been caused by equipment failure. Fire Rescue Victoria, WorkSafe, Victoria Police, and Viva are now launching a thorough investigation into the incident.
While the refinery continues to produce diesel and petrol, output has been reduced as a precautionary measure while crews remain on-site to monitor safety.
The incident has sparked a national conversation regarding Australia’s energy security. With only two major oil refineries remaining in the country, experts are highlighting the vulnerability inherent in such concentrated infrastructure.
Professor Hussein Dia from Swinburne University of Technology noted that while the event is not a crisis, it illustrates the fragility of Australia’s fuel system.
“The fire at the Geelong refinery is a significant incident because it affects one of only two remaining oil refineries in Australia, supplying around half of Victoria’s fuel and approximately 10 per cent of national demand,” Dia said.
“While it is still early and the full impact is not yet clear, any disruption to domestic refining capacity adds pressure to an already tight and globally exposed fuel system.
“The loss or reduction of output from a major domestic refinery reduces flexibility and resilience in the system. This doesn’t mean people will run out of fuel tomorrow, but it does narrow the buffer we have to absorb shocks.”
This sentiment was echoed by Jason Pearce, Field CTO at Claroty, who argued that industrial resilience must be treated as a sovereign capability rather than just an operational concern.
“What events like this reveal is how tightly interconnected Australia’s industrial systems have become, and how quickly disruption at a single node can translate into broader concerns around fuel supply, logistics, transport and critical services,” Pearce said.
“The deeper issue is not the incident itself, but the fragility that existed before it occurred.
“When continuity depends on a small number of critical assets and supply paths, every disruption has the potential to escalate into a systemic concern.”
