Geelong fire: blaze at one of Australia’s two oil refineries extinguished after 13 hours as fuel supply fears remain

Petrol production hit and full extent of damage unknown after ‘unprecedented’ fire at Viva plant in Corio Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Geelong oil refinery fire: what we know so far Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An explosive fire at a Geelong oil refinery – which supplies half of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of Australia’s – has been extinguished, with the impact on petrol production and the extent of the damage still unknown. The blaze at the Viva Energy facility in Corio – one of two refineries left in the country – broke out just after 11pm Wednesday, with Fire Rescue Victoria alerted to the blaze by multiple calls to triple zero reporting explosions and flames. It continued to burn for 13 hours before FRV confirmed it had been extinguished. It was deemed under control shortly after 12pm on Thursday. The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the fire during a fuel crisis was clearly “not a good development” but said Viva was confident disruptions would be minimal. “We don’t know exactly what the impact on petrol production will be,” Bowen said. “To be fair to everyone, we’re still assessing the