State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has formed an internal committee to investigate the fire at the Barmer refinery in Rajasthan, which happened on Monday.

Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), said on Wednesday at the inter-ministerial briefing that HPCL has formed an internal team to investigate the fire incident in the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) section of the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery (HRRL) in Barmer.

She did not provide any more details on the nature of the internal investigation at the public sector undertaking (PSU) oil marketing company (OMC).

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has already set up a four-member team to investigate the fire incident in the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) section of the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery (HRRL) in Barmer, Rajasthan. The team is led by former Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) Managing Director M Venkatesh.

The team reached Barmer on Tuesday and started investigations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the refinery on Tuesday (April 21). However, the inauguration has been postponed and a new date will be decided later.

HPCL holds 74 per cent stake in HRRL, while the Rajasthan government holds 26 per cent in the complex, which has a 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) crude refining capacity, including 2.4 MTPA of petrochemicals. The total project cost is around ₹72,900 crore.

Sumit Ritolia, Kpler’s Lead Research Analyst for Refining and Modelling, explained that it is important to recognise that commissioning large, complex refineries is a phased process, and these incidents do happen. Moving from CDU startup to stable production of refined products typically takes a few months, with full ramp-up taking significantly longer.

“From a supply standpoint, the Rajasthan refinery fire incident does not alter India’s near-term product availability. The refinery was not yet contributing to the product pool, and any meaningful output had only been expected from Q3 2026 onwards,” he added.

Published on April 22, 2026