Fire at India's Rajasthan refinery under control, oil ministry says (updated)

Hindustan Petroleum

20/04/2026 14:00

Adds fire details and background throughout

April 20 (Reuters) - A fire was put out at a major refinery in India's western state of Rajasthan, the oil ministry and the refiner said on Monday.

The fire, which broke out near the crude distillation unit of the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd complex, led to the postponement of its inauguration on Tuesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The fire preliminarily appeared to have been caused by a leakage of hydrocarbons through one of the valves, said state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) HPCL.NS, which owns a majority stake in the plant.

The plant and its units are structurally safe and unaffected, HPCL added.

No casualties or injuries have been reported, the oil ministry said, adding that an investigation has been initiated to determine the cause and take remedial measures.

The facility, India's first greenfield integrated refinery-petrochemical complex, is a joint venture between HPCL and the Rajasthan government.

It is being built at a cost of 794.59 billion Indian rupees ($8.53 billion) and is slated to start commercial operations in July. It has a processing capacity of 9 million metric tonnes per year, according to its website.

($1 = 93.1275 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Swati Verma, Kanjyik Ghosh and Bipasha Dey; Editing by Joe Bavier, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Maju Samuel)

 ((Swati.Verma@thomsonreuters.com;  +91 8894503862;))