The government has constituted a four-member team headed by former Mangalore Refinery And Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) managing director M Venkatesh to investigate the fire at the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery, a day ahead of its scheduled inauguration, with officials saying the panel has reached Barmer and begun its assessment.
“The ministry has already constituted a team, which has already reached Barmer. They are investigating the incident. Only after their report is received, we will be able to share what happened, how it happened and how much time it will take to repair,” Sujata Sharma, joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas said.
The fire broke out at around 1.55 pm on April 20 at the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) section of the refinery complex at Pachpadra in Rajasthan’s Balotra district. The CDU is the main processing unit of a refinery, handling crude intake and feeding downstream operations.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) said, “An unfortunate accident occurred… There was a fire in the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) section of the refinery complex. Prima facie, it appears that leakage of hydrocarbons through one of the valves/flanges in the heat exchanger circuit caused the fire.”
The company said the fire was “localised in the heat exchangers stack” and was “promptly brought under control by the emergency response team… with support from the local administration”. “There is no loss of life or injury to any personnel,” it added.
As a precaution, “Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU), and all other units of the CDU section were quickly isolated,” HPCL said, adding that “all are structurally safe and unaffected” and that “no other section of the refinery has suffered any impact”.
Investigation initiated
The company said, “An investigation has been initiated to ascertain the cause of the incident and to undertake necessary remedial measures,” adding that “the financial and operational impact, if any, is being assessed and prima facie is not expected to be material.”
The incident led to the postponement of the April 21 inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The refinery was scheduled to begin commercial operations from July 1, according to a government statement issued earlier this month. Any delay in timelines will depend on the findings of the investigation.
The refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, built at a cost of over ₹79,450 crore, is India’s first greenfield integrated project of its kind, with a capacity of 9 million tonnes per annum and petrochemical output of 2.4 MTPA. It is designed to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel along with petrochemicals including polypropylene, polyethylene variants, benzene and butadiene.
Wood Mackenzie in a LinkedIn post said that the impact of the incident on India’s fuel supply is likely to be limited. “The impact on India’s crude runs and refined product supply is expected to be minimal… The facility had already been assumed to follow a gradual ramp-up profile through Q2 2026, limiting the immediate loss of throughput,” it said.
The consultancy added that “damage to associated infrastructure has therefore pushed the start-up timeline to early second half of 2026,” noting that the fire near the CDU complex affected “key entry points required for commissioning activities”.
The refinery is a joint venture between HPCL, which holds a 74% stake, and the Rajasthan government, which holds the remaining 26%. Once operational, it will be India’s 24th refinery and among the most complex, with a Nelson Complexity Index of 17, enabling it to process heavier crude into high-value products.