Workers locked out of Inpex plant after gas leak

An onsite gas leak has forced a Territory gas company to lockout workers while the issue is resolved. Read what’s happened so far.

Energy giant Inpex has been forced to demobilise hundreds of workers from its Bladin Point plant following an operational glitch overnight.

Workers involved in the LNG plant’s shutdown were contacted early on Thurday morning by INPEX management requesting they remain offsite while the issue is resolved.

The NT News has seen an email sent to an Inpex employee from Inpex security advising of the incident.

‘Incident in progress at ILNG,” the message, sent at 2.56am, advised. “Site access limited to Inpex essential personnel, (including team leaders and shift-based staff. Contact your team leader to confirm your status if unsure).”

The message went onto to advise of contact points for Inpex employees.

The NT News has been told a cold flare flange malfunction forced the plant to shut down overnight.

Inpex’s onshore operations have shut down.

In an official response released late Thursday, Inpex said during planned activities to prepare LNG production train one for shut-down maintenance, a “minor” release of LNG was identified.

“A conservative approach was taken given the numbers of personnel supporting the planned maintenance shutdown, this response included controlling site access and formally notifying personnel via SMS/email,” Inpex’ statement said.

“Personnel involved in the maintenance shutdown were demobilised at the time and staged remobilisation has begun.”

An INPEX spokesperson said people were demobilised from site as a standard precautionary measure. The release was immediately brought under control and stopped, without risk of escalation. Workers are now returning to site.

The 2025 maintenance shutdown is the third and largest maintenance campaign for the Ichthys LNG onshore facility since production commenced in mid-2018.

INPEX’s onshore workforce is expected to increase from 600 to 1600 people during the maintenance campaign.