12/7/2013

About 130,000 litres of unleaded fuel has spilled from an oil terminal in Sydney’s south-east overnight.

Emergency service crews were called to the Caltex refinery in Banksmeadow, near Port Botany, about 1.30am AEST.

Fire and Rescue Superintendent Tom Cooper says workers were operating the tank valve when it malfunctioned.

“Fire crews are on the scene and they’re applying a foam blanket to the petrol to stop the fumes from coming into contact with any ignition sources,” he said.

Caltex spokesman Sam Collyer says the fuel spilled into the bund wall around the tank.

He says the leak has now been contained.

A firefighter has been taken to hospital suffering headaches and two workman were splashed with fuel and were treated at the scene.

An exclusion zone was set up although Botany Road and Foreshore Road have now reopened

The road into the Patrick shipping terminal remains closed. No doubt delays in container collections and deliveries will be experienced for the next few days

Mr Collyer says less than 10 per cent of the 2-million-litre tank was spilled and the incident will not affect supply.

“I’m not aware of any recent incidents of this type. It’s obviously something that we plan for as part of our emergency procedures but it thankfully is not a common occurrence,” he said.

“But we’ll be investigating to see why this has occurred.”

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