Viva’s Geelong refinery fire won’t force Albo to move Oz into stage three of fuel plan

No fuel restrictions yet. The sudden fire at one of Australia’s only two operational oil refineries won’t “lead to any change” in the four-stage government’s fuel plan, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today.

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Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles echoed the same on the ABC this morning, confirming the fire won’t shift the level of the crisis. “I don’t think what’s happened moves us from one stage to the other, but obviously that’s a set of circumstances that we continue to monitor,” the deputy PM explained.

“Obviously, the timing of this is terrible, so there’s no getting away from that, and I don’t seek to downplay the significance of the incident,” he added.

Australia has been in “stage two” of the government’s four-step National Fuel Security Plan for some time now. Stage three would mean international oil supply is drying up, and would mean Aussies need to be more careful with usage.

The fourth and last stage would see the government “protecting essential and critical services” by enforcing fuel rollouts across the country in planned ways.

Neither level three nor four has really been floated as more than a future idea for the time being, and that’s not changing today. “[We] put in place the four stages to plan and prepare for circumstances which are predominantly impacted by global events, not by events here. So the event here [at the Viva Energy refinery] will not lead to any change,” the Prime Minister explained to media today.

As much as 60% of petrol production is still proceeding at the Viva Energy (ASX:VEA) oil refinery in Geelong. Wednesday evening’s fire most heavily damaged the petrol processing part of the facility. Diesel and aviation fuel production is still continuing, at around 80% capacity for the time being.

Stock-wise, VEA was immediately placed in a trading halt on Thursday morning. The Energy blue-chip was last selling at $2.53/share before the pause.

The company’s boss, Scott Wyatt, has come out today saying he doesn’t think at-the-pump fuel costs will increase because of the fire. He also shot down claims a lack of maintenance was the reason for the fire; Wyatt pointed out the refinery “undertook a significant maintenance program last year.”

A host of other companies, including Ampol (ASX:ALD), iOR, and Park Fuels, have just recently agreed to help Export Finance Australia with commercial arrangements for additional fuel supplies. BP signed up today.

“BP is raring to go. The BP announcement is particularly important for Western Australia,” Minister Bowen said after the British multinational came on board.

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