A major fire broke out late Wednesday at the Viva Energy oil refinery in Corio, near Geelong — a city in the Australian state of Victoria, roughly an hour's drive southwest of Melbourne — sending 60-metre columns of flame into the night sky and raising serious concerns about domestic fuel supply. The blaze, which began just after 11pm local time following a gas leak and a series of explosions, tore through the motor gasoline section of the plant and was still burning into Thursday morning. No injuries were reported among the 50 to 100 workers on site at the time, with an evacuation described as having gone smoothly.

The Corio facility is one of only two operational oil refineries remaining in Australia, capable of processing up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day and supplying roughly 10 percent of the country's fuel and around half of Victoria's. Fire Rescue Victoria's deputy commissioner Michelle Cowling said the cause appeared to be equipment failure — likely a leak or valve malfunction — and that crews had no physical means of manually shutting off the leaking valve while the fire remained intense. The blaze was contained to a roughly 30-by-30-metre section of the refinery, sparing jet fuel and diesel production areas, which continued operating at reduced levels as a precaution. A shelter-in-place alert issued for nearby residents was later lifted, and hazardous materials teams reported no contaminants detected in air or water tests.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen acknowledged the fire came at a difficult moment for Australia's fuel security, describing the timing as