The Geelong oil refinery, one of only two remaining in Australia, is facing an uncertain future as competition from cheaper imports and the transition to cleaner fuels challenge its viability.
A flame flickers above a giant chimney stack at the Geelong oil refinery, burning off excess gas from the day’s production of millions of litres of petrol, diesel and jet fuel. On another end of the site, construction workers are building a service station fitted with electric chargers and hydrogen-refuelling equipment for emissions-free trucks and buses.
Opened by Shell 70 years ago, the sprawling oil refinery on the shores of Corio Bay was the first in a wave of postwar refineries to come onstream across Australia. Today, it is one of just two that remain. It’s been a bruising decade for the nation’s oil refineries – plants that process crude oil into usable fuel – as competition from cheaper imports from the mega-refineries of South-East Asia have pushed many to breaking point, leading to closures and heavy job losses. In 2021, travel bans to arrest the spread of COVID-19 dealt another crushing blow, wiping out fuel demand on an unprecedented scale. ExxonMobil shut the Altona refinery in Melbourne. BP closed its Kwinana plant in Perth. The refinery at Geelong – now owned by ASX-listed Viva Energy – and Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane were the only two to agree to a federal government rescue package, which offered them subsidies in return for committing to stay open until at least 2027.Credit: Their futures beyond that date, though, are far from certain. Intense competition pressures persist, refining profit margins are volatile, and the transition away from polluting oil-based fuels continues to cast a cloud over longer-term demand for core products. To set it up with a stronger chance of longevity, the refinery at Geelong is busier than it’s ever been, says Bill Patterson, Viva Energy’s new general manager of refinin
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