40pc of petrol production at Viva Energy oil refinery affected after fire: Albanese

Forty per cent of petrol production has been affected by the fire at Viva Energy oil refinery, Anthony Albanese said, off the back of his fuel diplomacy efforts to shore up Australia’s fuel supply.

The Prime Minister cut short a trip to Malaysia to visit the refinery in Curio, near Geelong, after it burst into flames on Wednesday night.

A mechanical fault is suspected to be the cause.

“Eighty per cent of diesel production is continuing, 80 per cent of aviation fuel is continuing, ongoing,” Mr Albanese said on Friday, during a press conference at the Geelong refinery site.

“It has been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there, but 60 per cent of petrol production proceeding today as well.”

The Viva Energy facility is one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries and has the ability to process up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.

It contributes 10 per cent to the national fuel stockpile and also provides Victoria with more than 50 per cent of its fuel supply.

But Mr Albanese ruled out the possibility of the incident pushing Australians into fuel rationing and the third stage of the National Fuel Security Plan.

“The event here will not lead to any change. We’ll give an update tomorrow about fuel supplies that are on hand. Fuel is continuing to come in,” he said.

“The government’s put in place the four stages, in order to plan and in order to prepare, for circumstances which are predominantly impacted by global events, not by events here.”

Mr Albanese also announced BP had joined the federal government’s underwriting scheme, designed to give private importers more confidence to source additional fuel supplies.

“BP have joined the companies that have an agreement with Export Finance Australia to reach commercial arrangements for additional supplies that might be available,” he said.

“This follows the 100 million litres of supply we were able to secure in two lots, one from Brunei, and one from Korea over past 24 hours.

“That has been positive.”

Mr Albanese arrived in Victoria after departing from Malaysia. He was visiting the Asian neighbour as part of ramped up diplomatic efforts to shore up Australia’s fuel and fertiliser supply.

The two countries struck an energy supply pledge, with Malaysia’s state-owned energy giant Petronas committing to prioritise supplying excess fuel to Australia, after domestic needs are met. In exchange, Australia will continue the flow of minerals and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Malaysia.

The deal follows similar deals struck with Brunei and Singapore, committing to keeping trade flows of fuel, gas, fertiliser and food open, despite uncertainty triggered by the war in the Middle East.