India's HPCL refinery fire was extinguished in an hour; no one was hurt

The plant's own firefighters extinguished a fire at a heavy-residue processing unit. The incident occurred as India imports record volumes of oil, about 2 million barrels per day of which come from Russia.

A fire broke out Monday evening at the Visakh refinery of state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) in Visakhapatnam, a port city in India's Andhra Pradesh state. Deccan Chronicle reported that the fire started at about 10:15 p.m. local time (7:45 p.m. Moscow time). Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi said there were no fatalities, adding that the fire was confined to a single tank and posed no threat to other units.

Black smoke above the refinery was visible from the neighboring areas of Malkapuram and Sriharipuram, prompting some residents to run out of their homes in panic. Authorities assured residents that the smoke posed no danger.

What is known about the cause

The fire started at a tank belonging to the residue fluidized catalytic cracker (RUF) unit, which was commissioned in January 2026. NDTV and local police said the tank contained sulfur pitch, while The Times of India described it as a vessel containing an intermediate product used to make bitumen. Residents heard sounds resembling an explosion. Regional Fire Service Chief Niranjan Reddy said staff heard a bang before the fire broke out, although sources at HPCL considered a tank explosion unlikely. Preliminary information indicated that an overhead power line may have caused the fire.

Police Inspector Prakash Rao said the plant's firefighters brought the blaze under control in about an hour. District official Dilip Chakravarti told ANI that the fire had been completely extinguished and that an industrial safety inspection would be conducted at the facility.

Smoke above the refinery and a burning unit in Visakhapatnam

Russian oil in the Indian market

The incident occurred against the backdrop of India's record oil imports. According to analytics firm Kpler, India received about 5.6 million barrels per day in October, including around 2 million barrels from Russia, up from 1.82 million in September. Supplies from the Middle East amounted to about 2.3 million barrels per day.

Kpler lead analyst Nikhil Dubey expects shipments from Russia to decline in November and December because attacks in the Black Sea are raising freight rates, while suppliers from the Persian Gulf are offering competitive prices. He added that new disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could again drive Indian refiners toward Russian oil.

The Visakh refinery, founded by Caltex in 1957, was designed after modernization to process 15 million tonnes of crude oil annually and operated at 95% of capacity from July to September. HPCL has not yet said whether the fire affected production.

Video: social media / ConflictTR · Photo: DNA India, India TV

India's HPCL refinery fire was extinguished in an hour; no one was hurt