A fire that broke out at an intermediate pitch storage tank at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s Visakhapatnam refinery on the night of November 2 was brought under control, with no casualties or damage reported to refinery units, the state-run oil company said.
HPCL said the incident occurred at around 10 pm at the pitch intermediate storage tank at its Visakh Refinery. The refinery’s Fire and Safety Team activated firefighting and emergency response measures after the incident was reported.
The fire was localised to the pitch storage tank area and was brought under control, according to HPCL’s statement. The company said there were no casualties and that all refinery units were working safely.
Pitch is a dark, viscous residue generated after crude oil is processed to produce fuels such as petrol, diesel and gas oils. The affected tank was used to store this material. HPCL did not report damage to other storage facilities or processing infrastructure.
The company said its emergency response systems were activated promptly and reiterated its commitment to safety and emergency preparedness. No disruption to the operation of the refinery’s units was indicated in the statement.
The Visakhapatnam refinery has a processing capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), making it one of HPCL’s two major refineries. The company’s Mumbai refinery has a capacity of 9.5 MTPA.
The Visakhapatnam facility was commissioned in 1957 by Caltex Oil Refining India with an initial crude processing capacity of 0.675 MTPA. It was India’s first East Coast oil refinery and was expanded in phases to its current 15 MTPA capacity.
The refinery and its marketing facilities were nationalised in 1976 and amalgamated with HPCL in 1978. The facility is part of the industrial infrastructure supporting fuel processing and distribution on India’s eastern coast.
HPCL’s statement did not identify the cause of the fire or provide details of the damage, if any, to the pitch storage tank itself. The company said all refinery units were operating safely after the fire was brought under control.
