Viva Energy says it has stabilised disruption to a unit that has caused excessive flaring at the Geelong refinery.
Emergency services were called to the site around 1:30pm yesterday after a minor alarm sounded and there were multiple reports of fire and smoke in the area.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) issued an alert around an hour later saying it was seeking a better understanding of the situation.
“Viva has tweeted that this is a minor incident resulting in emergency flaring and nothing to be concerned about,” the EPA posted on its own X (formerly Twitter) account at 2:43pm.
3:30pm with Worksafe, with the EPA and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) all on alert, Viva says the all-clear sounded at the site.
“The unit has now been stabilised…as the refinery returns to normal operation, there is the potential for increased flaring over the next 24 hours,” a Viva spokesperson said.
“Viva Energy apologises for any concern caused by the increased flaring.”
A spokesperson for FRV says the issue is believed to have been caused by the failure of two cooling pumps after seaweed became blocked in the system.
“Another pump remained in operation and work to rectify the fault was successful,” they said.
