MELBOURNE, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that a major fire that broke out at one of Australia's two oil refineries will have a minimal impact on fuel production.
Albanese on Friday returned early from an official trip to Brunei and Malaysia to inspect the damage at Viva Energy's refinery southwest of Melbourne after equipment failure caused a major fire on Wednesday night. The fire was extinguished around midday on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters at the refinery, Albanese said that the timing of the fire was "regrettable" amid the oil supply crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East, but that it would have a minimal impact on production.
"The advice that we've received today is that 80 percent of diesel production is continuing, 80 percent of aviation fuel is continuing," said Albanese, who was in Brunei and Malaysia for talks on fuel security.
Petrol production at the facility, which provides 10 percent of Australia's national fuel supply, was at 60 percent of capacity on Friday and there are hopes that it can "ramp up" in the coming days, Albanese said.
He said that the government would provide its regular weekly update on fuel stockpile levels on Saturday. ■
