Converting Altona refinery to the Mobil Melbourne terminal

Converting Altona refinery to the Mobil Melbourne terminal

The Mobil Melbourne terminal will leverage existing refinery facilities and infrastructure to become one of the largest and most efficient fuel import and storage facilities in Australia.

The conversion of Altona refinery to an import terminal is a complex task and there will be lots of activity at the Altona site over the next few years.

Commissioning of initial terminal infrastructure

Works at the refinery to allow Mobil to import fuel through its deep-water port at Gellibrand wharf and store the fuel in existing tanks before transferring it to Yarraville terminal are now complete.

Initially, the imported fuel was stored in two large tanks at the Altona site. The works that we completed included preparing these tanks, along with the pipeline that connects the Altona site to Gellibrand wharf, for the storage and transfer of refined fuels. Mobil has also installed new pumps to connect these tanks to the Mobil pipelines that send fuel to Yarraville terminal.

Customers will continue to collect fuel from the Mobil Yarraville terminal.

Our customers, and all Victorians, can rely on Mobil to maintain our supply of quality Mobil fuels throughout this transition. The below animation provides an overview of Mobil’s Melbourne supply chain.

Shutdown of refinery operations

Most facilities associated with the fuel refining process at Altona refinery have now been shut down and are no longer operating and have been left in a safe state. Decommissioning work commenced in late 2021 with the start of catalyst removal and is continuing into 2023. The Decommissioning phase is characterised as the opening and inspection of vessels, tanks and piping to find and remove any last traces of product left following the shutdown activities.

Decommissioning refinery infrastructure

Mobil is currently planning what would be required to safely decommission refinery infrastructure that will not be part of the future terminal.  As part of our planning, we will take into consideration proposed future uses of the site, including the terminal operations.

Decommissioning the refinery infrastructure will be complex, as the utility services required by the terminal operations are integrated with the former refinery processing areas. These utilities will need to be replaced prior to final decommissioning to ensure we can maintain our reliable supply of fuel to our customers. 

Future decommissioning work will take a number of years to plan and complete.  At each stage of the planning process, we will obtain all required regulatory approvalsbefore beginning work.

Review of options for future use of the site

Mobil will continue to operate a fuel import and storage terminal at the Altona site, primarily utilising tanks to the north of Kororoit Creek Road (former North Crude Tank Farm, between the railway line and Fink Street) and to the east of Millers Rd (former Blending area, corner of Millers Road and Kororoit Creek Road) as well as some required associated infrastructure on the former refinery processing site associated with the operation of the terminal.

The future of any former refinery infrastructure that is not required for future terminal operations will be subject to a future review. This may provide opportunities for repurposement, industrial and commercial sector use, aligned with planning policies, to support economic growth in the City of Hobsons Bay, as well as maintain the appropriate buffer areas required for the ongoing operation of the Mobil fuels terminal. Any potential changes to land use or ownership will be subject to the appropriate Council planning controls and public consultation where required under the existing planning policies.  

Environmental considerations

Mobil will continue working with the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria (EPA) to ensure our ongoing compliance with EPA requirements. This includes both the appropriate remediation of areas to reflect any potential future changes to land use, as well as maintaining our compliance with EPA requirements for operational areas of the terminal.

As the Altona site is no longer manufacturing fuels, its environmental performance has improved, including: 

• elimination of most air emissions
• reduction in noise impacts
• substantial reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions
• elimination of most solid and liquid wastes taken offsite for processing.

Mobil continues to seek ways to further improve the environmental performance of the terminal transition activities, and ongoing terminal operations. For example, we are exploring the use of innovative ways to reduce waste from the decommissioning works by engaging specialist contractor services to reuse or recycle materials.

Community enquiries

If you would like more information about the Altona refinery and for all general enquiries relating to the refinery, please email us at CommunityANZ@exxonmobil.com.

For urgent matters regarding the refinery's operations, Altona Refinery has a 24-hour community hotline for local residents and community members. The free-call number is 1800 659 527.

For other enquiries please refer to our Contact Us section.

SMS notification for local residents

Mobil can send an SMS notification to registered local community members in the event of an issue at the Altona site which may cause concern. If you are a local resident and would like to register to receive messages from Mobil, you can download the form and return it to: Mobil Community Relations, Locked Bag 40, Altona North VIC 3015 or email it to CommunityANZ@exxonmobil.com.