Australia won’t increase its fuel-security measures despite a fire wiping out nearly half of petrol production at one of the country’s only refineries, the Prime Minister says.

The fire broke out late on Wednesday at Viva Energy’s Geelong refinery, south-west of Melbourne, which supplies more than half of Victoria’s fuel and about 10 per cent nationwide.

Anthony Albanese, who toured the facility on Friday morning after cutting short a trip to South-East Asia, said the incident was regrettable, but he was hopeful of production increasing again.

As of Friday, 60 per cent of the refinery’s total petrol production capacity was underway, along with 80 per cent of diesel production and 80 per cent for aviation fuel.

Albanese said the incident would not lead to fuel security measures being bumped up to level three, which would have led to an increase in voluntary measures to limit fuel use.

“The good news is … that no one was injured in this incident that occurred, and that is a tribute to the professionalism and to the management issues that have been put in place to deal with an incident like this,” Albanese told reporters.

“We’ll give an update tomorrow about fuel supplies that are on hand. Fuel is continuing to come in.”

Australia is at stage two of the national fuel security plan, a practical guide aimed at managing supply challenges related to conflict in the Middle East.

Exactly what the next stage, stage three, would look like is not clear, but would involve more practical measures to limit fuel use.

The refinery, which has been operating at full capacity in recent weeks, will be slowing its output for the time being, Viva Energy said.

Chief executive Scott Wyatt said there was still a way to go before the site got back to previous levels of output.

“Any shortfalls of production, we’re very confident that we can cover that with our our import program, which is quite substantial,” he said.

“It’s been, obviously, a challenging event for our team. It’s a shocking incident.”

Despite the impact on production, he said costs would not be passed on to drivers.

“Whatever costs this incident has caused the refinery will be absorbed in our refinery operations,” he said.

“We will not be passing that on to the community.”

The fire primarily affected infrastructure responsible for the production of petrol and aviation gasoline, which is distinct from jet fuel and usually used by small aircraft.

Meanwhile Albanese’s visit to Malaysia earlier this week resulted in a deal where Australia will receive an extra 100 million litres of diesel to help deal with the fallout from the Iran war.

The imports will come via shipments from Brunei, which Albanese visited before his Malaysia trip for energy-security talks, and from South Korea under export finance regulations.

Albanese revealed details of the additional supplies after formal talks in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim that focused on ensuring energy supplies continued between both nations during the oil crunch.

The imports will come via shipments from Brunei, which Albanese visited before his Malaysia trip for energy-security talks, and from South Korea under export finance regulations.

In a joint statement signed inside the Malaysian government’s Perdana Putra complex, the leaders agreed to a “no surprises” policy on the trade of critical oil and fuel supplies after disruptions caused by the Iran war.

“The world looks very different to when you were here last year … global energy markets are under serious stress,” Anwar said at a joint media conference.

“Malaysia will always be a reliable partner to Australia,” he assured his Australian guest.

The South-East Asian nation is Australia’s third-largest fuel supplier, providing 14 per cent of its diesel, 10 per cent of its petrol and 11 per cent of its jet fuel.

In turn, Australia provides almost all of Malaysia’s liquefied natural gas imports.

Still, Asian nations are concerned the Albanese government could introduce new export taxes on resources in the May budget.

“We commit to promote open and stable trade flows between our two countries, including for essential energy supplies,” the pair said in a joint statement after meeting at the official offices of the Malaysian leader.

“We will exchange views on energy trade-related matters on a ‘no surprises’ basis, and deepen practical co-operation on energy security for both countries.

“Both countries serve as energy suppliers to one another, underpinning a mutually important energy security relationship.”

Following his meeting with Anwar, Albanese spoke to executives from one of Asia’s largest oil companies inside the Malaysian Petroleum Club, seeking to secure more supplies for Australia in response to the fuel crisis.

Visiting Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas twin towers, Albanese sat down with senior leaders from the state-owned oil giant after which the building is named.

He spoke of strong trade ties between Australia and Malaysia, particularly in the energy sector, with Petronas having taken a stake in Queensland’s Gladstone LNG project.

“Friends need to work together, because we are living in very turbulent times,” Albanese said as the meeting opened.

Albanese described the twin towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur as iconic and said it was his fourth visit to Malaysia. He has travelled to the country twice as a tourist and once previously as PM.

Malaysia also imports hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian oil and fuel each year, some of which is sold on to Australia.

Ukraine has called for a total ban on the use of Russian oil.