Developing: Fire At HPCL’s Visakh Refinery Sets Off Explosion Rumours; Police Say No Casualties

A fire broke out near a storage tank at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s (HPCL) Visakh Refinery in Visakhapatnam on Monday evening. Tall flames and thick smoke rose over the city’s industrial belt, and rumours spread that a tank had exploded. 

Image Source: @vizagweatherma9 on X

Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi has confirmed the incident. He said the fire was confined to the tank and posed no threat to other sections of the refinery. “A fire broke out in Vizag HPCL facility and there were no casualties,” Bagchi said. HPCL fire tenders and other firefighting teams were working to control the blaze late on Monday. Authorities said the smoke was not considered hazardous.

It is the second fire at an HPCL-run refinery this year. On April 20, a fire in the crude distillation unit of HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd, the company’s joint venture at Pachpadra in Barmer, forced the postponement of the plant’s scheduled dedication by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the next day.

Cause not yet known

The cause of the fire has not been established. The police commissioner said HPCL had yet to confirm what caused the accident, and company officials were looking into the events that led up to it. HPCL had not issued an official account of the incident by late Monday.

Explosion and fire reported at HPCL oil refinery in Visakhapatnam, India. https://t.co/aFulSjYMTv

— World Source News (@Worldsource24) November 2, 2026

Reports also differ on what the tank held. The Times of India, citing preliminary information, reported that the flames broke out near a tank containing Ruf Pitch Oil, an intermediate product used to make bitumen. NDTV reported that the fire started at a sulphur pitch tank. HPCL has not officially said which tank was involved.

Explosion reports unverified

NDTV reported that the fire followed sudden explosion sounds at the facility. Within hours, rumours of an oil tank explosion had spread through the surrounding industrial area. However, HPCL sources told The Times of India that a tank explosion was unlikely. The fire has been confirmed. An explosion has not.

THE LAST THING INDIA NEEDS Fire broke out in an oil refinery in Visakhapatnam. Visuals show flames and plumes of smoke leaping to the sky from the refinery. The cause of the fire, damage and if anyone is injured are yet to be ascertained. More details are awaited. https://t.co/jF2RO8ygQM

— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) November 2, 2026

Commuters on roads next to the refinery filmed the flames on their phones, and the videos spread quickly on social media. The clips caused alarm in Malkapuram and Sriharipuram, the industrial and residential neighbourhoods around the plant.

What the refinery does

The Visakh Refinery was set up by Caltex in the 1950s and was the first oil refinery on India’s east coast. The Government of India acquired it in 1976, and it was merged into HPCL in 1978. It is one of HPCL’s two wholly owned refineries; the other is in Mumbai.

A massive explosion reportedly occurred at an oil refinery in Visakhapatnam, triggering a major fire. Huge flames were seen billowing from the facility, while thick smoke engulfed the surrounding area. The incident has triggered panic among residents in nearby localities. The cause of the explosion, the extent of the damage and details of any casualties are yet to be ascertained. Further details are awaited.

— Sowmith Yakkati (@YakkatiSowmith) November 2, 2026

The plant processes crude oil into transport fuels and other petroleum products. In January 2026, HPCL commissioned a Residue Upgradation Facility at the site. The 3.55 million tonne-per-annum unit turns the heaviest part of the crude barrel into higher-value fuels. It completed a modernisation programme that raised the refinery’s capacity from 8.33 million tonnes a year to 15 million tonnes.

The refinery processed 16.04 million tonnes of crude in 2025-26 and ran at 107 per cent of its capacity. Over the same period, the Mumbai refinery processed 10 million tonnes. That makes Visakh the larger of HPCL’s two in-house refineries by throughput.

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— Desh_Bhakati🇮🇳 (@Desh_bhakati) November 2, 2026

What is at stake

Police said the fire was limited to one tank. No disruption to the refinery’s processing units had been reported as of Monday night. Two questions remain open: whether any units were shut as a precaution, and how long the affected tank area will stay out of use. Either could affect a plant that has been running above its rated capacity.

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The refinery has a history of serious accidents. In August 2013, a fire at a cooling tower under construction during an earlier expansion killed several contract workers. In May 2021, a fire in crude distillation unit No. 3 was put out without casualties, and a five-member technical committee was set up to investigate it.

Fire seen at HPCL oil refinery in Visakhapatnam, India. https://t.co/oeX51ELDt5

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 2, 2026

The plant also sits close to homes. Monday’s videos and the explosion rumours that followed showed how quickly a fire at the refinery reaches the city around it.

(This is a developing story and will be updated.)

(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that this was the second fire at the Visakh refinery this year. The April 2026 fire occurred at HPCL’s Rajasthan joint venture refinery. The error is regretted.)