For the past decade, experts have warned that the closure of most of Australia’s oil refineries left this island continent dangerously exposed.
Late Wednesday night, those fears were realised when a fireball erupted at the 70-year-old Viva Energy refinery in Corio near Geelong, one of only two left in a country that had eight in the early 2000s.
The cause of the spectacular fire is unclear, although a company official said there may have been a gas leak beforehand. Two production modules used to produce petrol, aviation gasoline and some specialty fuels are out of action.
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Fortunately, no one was killed or injured, according to Viva, but the refinery has been evacuated and it is unclear when it will be able to resume normal operations.
For a plant that supplies 50 per cent of Victoria’s fuel, and 10 per cent of the nation’s, this is a huge blow.
Australia’s refinery industry was competed out of existence by massive plants in Asia, especially Singapore and Malaysia. Governments kept the Corio plant, and one in Brisbane, open through subsidies.
Over the past six weeks, amid one of the worst energy shocks in history, Viva has run the plant flat out. Maintenance was put on hold. Extra crude oil was bought from overseas at high prices. Viva helped limit increases in petrol and diesel prices.
Then disaster struck. Many Australians will now wonder, as conflict rages unpredictably in the Middle East: why did we give up on an industry essential to a modern economy?
After all, despite the claims of Energy Minister Chris Bowen, most people don’t drive electric cars and factories don’t run on wind power.
