The Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX: VEA) share price won’t move today after going into a trading halt amid the huge fire at the Geelong Refinery.
Viva Energy makes, imports, blends and deliver fuels, lubricants, solvents and bitumen through its national and international supply chains. The business has a national network of around 1,500 Shell, OTR and Liberty service stations.
The Geelong refinery supplies around half of Victoria’s fuel and is described by the business as a “vital part of Australia’s energy security”.
Unfortunately, it’s that refinery that has been affected by fire overnight.
Viva Energy shares halted
The only ASX announcement the company has made is the trading halt request “pending an announcement from the company regarding the impact of a significant fire at the Geelong Refinery”.
It requested that the trading halt remain in place until the earlier of an announcement by the company or the open of trading on Monday, 20 April 2026.
What do we know so far?
According to reporting by the media such as The Guardian, there is no longer any sign of smoke coming from the refinery after several hours of intense fires.
Fire Rescue Victoria deputy commissioner, Michelle Cowling, confirmed the cause of the Corio refinery blaze was equipment failure.
Talking to ABC Radio Melbourne, Michelle Cowling said:
The part of the plant it’s in is actually a transfer. So, in a bit of good news for you, it’s not impacting diesel or gasoline and petroleum production. So that won’t add to the already stressed fuel issues that we’re having. There’s about 50 firefighters on site from FRV and CFA, as well as Viva has some of their own firefighters. So it’s very well contained. It was an equipment failure in the refinery, Viva is looking into that. So there’ll be a thorough investigation into the failure of how this fire started.
Additionally, The Guardian reported that the Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, has told ABC Radio Melbourne that the government has been assured by Viva Energy that there is “no immediate impact on fuel supply” and the fire hasn’t impacted the diesel or jet fuel sections of the refinery.
While the news is better than it could have been, it is still going to impact production. It’s just a question of how long for.
Viva Energy’s CEO Scott Wyatt said that the company will restart/increase production once it’s safe to do so.
Final thoughts on the Viva Energy share price
With no reported contaminants spreading from the blaze, no fatalities and seemingly limited damage, so hopefully production can restart sooner rather than later.
I wouldn’t call it a buy (or sell) based on this news. Hopefully Viva Energy has good insurance.
There are other ASX dividend shares I’d rather buy at this stage.
