Geelong Refinery Fire: Australia's Fuel Security at Risk

0:00Last Wednesday night, a massive fire ripped through Viva Energy's G-Long refinery, one of just two oil refineries left in Australia. The blaze started late and burned for over 12 hours before firefighters put it out around noon Thursday. No one got hurt among the up to 50 staff on-site and all escaped safely. Viva Energy Boss Scott Wyatt was on the phone with the site manager hashing out fuel cargo details when he hit. He jumped in his car and raced over, calling the emergency response textbook, perfect. The refinery normally processes up to 120,000 barrels of oil a day into petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and more. Nearby residents had to shelter indoors while crews battled the flames from 500 meters away. The fire exposed Australia's shaky fuel security since this plant makes about 20% of the nation's needs with the rest imported. It comes at a tense time with the straight-of-horn moves closed, squeezing global oil flows.

1:00Right now, productions down to 60% for petrol and 80% for diesel and jet fuel as they run fewer units near the damage. Wyatt says inspections over the next few weeks will clear the way to ramp back to over 90% with no long-term hit expected. Wyatt's pushing for more refineries or added capacity here to avoid future scares, especially with imports covering 80% of demand and tough. Wyatt gets ahead. They'll keep buying fuel weeks in advance, buying time until tensions ease. This has been Adelaide News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story.