'Significant fire' breaks out at one of Australia's last oil refineries

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 21:36, 15 April 2026 | Updated: 21:56, 15 April 2026 An out of-control fire has erupted at one of Australia's two remaining refineries.  Firefighters rushed to the Geelong Viva Energy refinery in Corio shortly after 11pm on Wednesday night. Authorities are responding to the 'significant' fire, which was still burning out-of-control on Thursday morning. A watch and act warning was issued for a dozen surrounding suburbs after a wind change sent smoke towards northern Geelong. Hundreds of residents in impacted areas were urged to shelter indoors and keep their windows closed due to the large amount of smoke. The warning was downgraded shortly before 5.30am Thursday. All refinery staff have been accounted for and there were no reports of injuries. The cause of the fire remains unknown. The Geelong Viva Energy refinery burst into flames on Wednesday night and continued to burn out of control seven hours later  Residents in surrounding suburbs were ordered to remain indoors and keep windows closed The refinery has advised there was no immediate impact on fuel supplies. The facility has been in operation for seven decades and employs more than 1,100 workers. It supplies 50 per cent of Victoria's fuel and 10 per cent of Australia's, putting out 120,000 barrels of oil a day. The refinery also produces hydrocarbon solvents, marine fuel oil, low aromatic fuel, avgas, bitumen and high-quality plastic feedstock used to create food packaging, medical equipment and polymer banknotes. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.