The refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, which was scheduled to begin commercial operations from July 1, after being inaugurated by by Prime ⁠Minister Narendra Modi.on Tuesday, has an Advance Loss of Profit (ALOP) cover

New Delhi:The newly built Rs 79,450-crore Rajasthan refinery of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), where a major fire broke out near the main unit on Monday, has been re/insured by Delhi based Oriental Insurance Company and reinsured by Swiss Re.

The refinery project, which was scheduled to begin commercial operations from July 1 after being inaugurated by Prime ⁠Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, has an Advance Loss of Profit (ALOP) cover.

An ALOP cover,also known as Delay in Start-Up (DSU) or delayed completion coverage, protects project owners from financial losses when construction projects are delayed due to physical damage. It covers lost profits, fixed costs, and debt servicing during the delay.

However, no details on insurance policy and claims from the fire damaged project are available yet.

A four-member team constituted by India’s oil ministry is in Rajasthan to investigate a fire at a refinery, even as HPCL said the incident is not expected to have a material financial or operational impact, and that all units are structurally safe with no effect on other sections.

The blaze was confined to the heat exchanger stack and was quickly brought under control by the site’s emergency response team. There were no casualties or injuries.

The fire was put out at the major refinery, and 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 blaze at the HRRL refinery was doused in about two hours, with no reported casualties, officials said.

A fire at the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd(HRRL) in Pachpadra, Balotra, was likely caused by a hydrocarbon leak from a valve or flange in the heat exchanger circuit of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), the company said on Tuesday.

The refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, located in Rajasthan’s Balotra district, is designed as a 9 million tonnes per annum facility with a strong petrochemical focus, reflecting India’s strategy to boost value-added output and reduce import dependence.

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.

“Due to an unfortunate fire incident today in the vicinity of the Crude Distillation Unit at the HRRL, the scheduled dedication of the refinery by the Prime Minister on 21.04.2026 has been postponed. The fire has been brought under control. There are no reports of any casualties,” the ministry said in a post on X.

A revised date for the inauguration will be announced in due course, it added.

No reasons were assigned immediately for the fire at Rajasthan project.

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

The Union Petroleum Ministry in a post on Xsaid an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire and implement corrective measures.

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), which owns a majority stake in the plant.

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

Thick columns of black smoke emitted from the fire that broke out near the crude distillation unit — the primary or front-end unit that is often referred to as the heart of an oil refinery.

Refineries worldwide are highly susceptible to fires, explosions, and catastrophic failures during the commissioning and startup phases, as this period involves introducing hydrocarbons into new or maintained high-pressure, high-temperature systems.

This is not the first time a fire broke out at a refinery under commissioning. On January 30, 2016, a major fire broke out at Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Paradip refinery’s atmospheric vacuum unit (AVU), just over a week before its scheduled inauguration by Prime Minister Modi on February 7, 2016. No injuries were reported even then.
The Rajasthan refinery will be India’s 24th and the second most complex unit yet in India.

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