Visakhapatnam, Nov 3 (PTI) The fire accident at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation’s refinery here late on Monday night occurred at the pitch intermediate storage tank and was brought under control, the oil marketing company officials said on Tuesday.
There were no deaths or injuries in the fire incident, an HPCL official confirmed to PTI.
Around 10 pm on Monday, the port city was shaken up by a towering column of fire and thick black smoke plumes billowing from HPCL Vizag refinery.
“A fire incident was reported at the pitch intermediate storage tank at Visakh Refinery of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), at around 10 pm on November 2…The fire was localised to the pitch tank area and was brought under control within a short time. There have been no casualties,” the Maharatna company said on X on Tuesday.
According to HPCL, the refinery’s fire and safety team “promptly activated the firefighting and emergency response measures.”
After bringing the fire under control, it noted that all the refinery units are working safely.
“HPCL remains committed to the highest standards of safety and emergency preparedness,” it added.
The HPCL refinery in Vizag has a capacity of 15 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MMTPA), which delivered an outstanding performance in FY26, processing its highest-ever annual crude throughput of 16.04 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT).
The Vizag refinery started off as Visakh Refinery, the first east coast oil refinery of India, commissioned in 1957 by Caltex Oil Refining India Ltd (CORIL) with a crude processing capacity of 0.675 MMTPA.
In phases, it was expanded to a capacity of 15 MMTPA.
Later, Caltex Refinery, along with its marketing facilities, were nationalised in 1976 and amalgamated with HPCL in 1978.
The products currently manufactured in the HPCL Vizag refinery include LPG, propylene, naphtha, MS, ATF, SKO, HSD, LDO, LSHS, IFO, Bitumen, Sulphur, VLSFO. PTI STH ADB
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