Half of Victoria's fuel supply and the last shred of energy sovereignty go up in flames at Corio

Guardian Australia · Benita Kolovos and Nino Bucci · Thursday 16 April 2026

Half of Victoria's fuel supply and the last shred of energy sovereignty go up in flames at Corio

An explosive fire at the Viva Energy refinery in Geelong — one of only two oil refineries left in Australia — has halted petrol production, raising fuel supply fears across Victoria and nationally.

Two refineries. We have two refineries in a country the size of a continent, and one of them's on fire. Every defence white paper for twenty years has flagged fuel security as a strategic vulnerability, and every government has responded by commissioning another report and hoping the tankers keep coming from Singapore. Corio isn't an accident — it's the sound a country makes when it outsources sovereignty and the invoice finally arrives.

Also covered by

SBS News
news.com.au