Late on Wednesday, Victorian firefighters were called to a large fire at Viva Energy Group’s oil refinery in Corio, a suburb of Geelong.

The blaze is believed to have been an equipment failure. Thankfully, no one was injured.

Viva is one of just two refineries left in Australia, and supplies more than 50 per cent of fuel in Victoria, and 10 per cent of fuel in Australia.

At the time of writing, the company was in a trading halt on the Australian sharemarket, pending an announcement regarding the impact of the fire.

In normal circumstances, Viva says the refinery can process up to 120,000 barrels of oil a day. The impact of the fire has been primarily to the production of petrol.

The overall refinery will have to assessed before it becomes clear whether diesel and aviation fuel production have been impacted.

In the immediate and short term, Viva’s supply of petrol will likely be met from storage, both on site and from other terminals.

The fire will mean even greater pressure on securing supply from overseas. It is possible price changes may be no more than we have already seen, as they are being driven by the cost of imports.

So what does this mean for the supply and price of fuel in Victoria, and Australia?

Using crude oil, refineries like Geelong produce liquid fuels for transport, including petrol for small cars, diesel for big cars and trucks, and aviation fuel for planes.

Crude oil is a hydrocarbon, created underground over millions of years from decaying organic matter. The chemical........

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