Pitch Tank Fire at HPCL's Visakh Refinery in India Brought Under Control, No Casualties
A fire broke out at about 10 p.m. local time on November 2 at the Visakh Refinery of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in Visakhapatnam, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. A pitch intermediate storage tank in the refinery's Residue Upgradation Facility (RUF) area caught fire, sending flames and thick black smoke into the night sky; residents of nearby Malkapuram and Sriharipuram reported hearing an explosion-like bang first.
HPCL said in a statement that night that the fire was localised to the pitch tank area, that the refinery's fire and safety team promptly activated firefighting and emergency response measures and brought the blaze under control within a short time, and that there were no casualties and all refinery units were operating safely. Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi also confirmed there were no casualties. Police said an explosion has not been confirmed, the cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the extent of the damage is yet to be assessed. Pitch is the dark, viscous residue left after crude oil processing and is an intermediate product used to make bitumen; because of its high viscosity, it produces especially thick smoke when it burns.
The Visakh Refinery is India's first East Coast refinery, commissioned in 1957, with a crude processing capacity of about 15 million tonnes a year; its products include liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, naphtha, bitumen and sulphur. According to local media reports, the same Residue Upgradation Facility area was hit in September 2025, while it was still under construction, when a hydrogen leak caused a loud bang and a fire.
Source: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：从 Yarada 山丘俯瞰印度 Visakhapatnam 的 HPCL 炼油厂（资料图）。照片 CC BY-SA 4.0，作者 IM3847，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam, India, seen from Yarada hill (file photo). CC BY-SA 4.0, by IM3847, via Wikimedia Commons.
