Fair Work Commission Rejects Inpex Bid to Halt Ichthys LNG Strike, Clearing 400 Workers

Australia's Fair Work Commission rejected an urgent application by Inpex Corporation to halt a worker strike at the Ichthys Liquefied Natural Gas project near Darwin, Northern Territory. Deputy President Michael Easton ruled there was insufficient evidence of widespread economic harm. The decision clears some 400 offshore and onshore workers to continue industrial action through June 23, with all cargo loading at the 9.2-million-tonne-per-annum facility now banned.

Inpex operates Ichthys with a 67.82% majority stake. TotalEnergies holds the major minority interest at 26%, with the remainder split among Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA, Toho Gas, and CPC Corporation of Taiwan. Each partner carries proportional exposure to the cargo loading ban for as long as the strike continues.

Four Cargoes at Risk, $188 Million in Blocked Value

Industry analysts estimate at least four major shipments will miss their scheduled loadings before the June 23 deadline. At Ichthys's nameplate throughput of 9.2 million tonnes per year, the facility processes roughly 25,200 tonnes per day. Over the eight strike days from June 15 through June 22, that totals approximately 202,000 tonnes of production unable to reach buyers. At the Platts Japan-Korea Marker of $18.86 per million BTU on June 12 and a standard energy content of 49.5 million BTU per tonne, the eight-day blocked volume carries a calculated cargo value of $188 million.

The disruption compares in scale to the 2023 Chevron Australia strikes at the Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities in Western Australia, which together represented roughly 24.5 million tonnes per year of LNG export capacity. In that case, European gas prices surged sharply in the weeks surrounding the protected action before workers reached a settlement. Market conditions in June 2026 have shifted from that episode: TTF European gas futures fell 5.02% to EUR 44.43 per megawatt-hour on June 15, after the US-Iran Hormuz reopening agreement unlocked Persian Gulf supply. The Ichthys disruption now acts as a partial counterweight to that bearish news.

Dispute Centers on Pay, Job Security, and Conditions

The 400 workers involved in the dispute have pushed for progress on pay, job security, and workplace conditions. Bargaining stalled ahead of the Fair Work Commission's June 12 hearing, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. Inpex was expected to return to the bargaining table on June 15 with an updated contract offer in an attempt to break the deadlock.

The hearing on June 12 considered Inpex's application to suspend the protected industrial action. Inpex argued the stoppages threatened the Australian economy and could disrupt energy supply. Deputy President Easton found those arguments did not meet the statutory threshold for suspension.

TotalEnergies Faces Dual LNG Exposure

TotalEnergies holds 26% of Ichthys, equating to roughly 2.4 million tonnes per year of attributed LNG production at current nameplate capacity. The French major also holds interests in Qatar's North Field projects, whose output routes through the Strait of Hormuz. A sustained Ichthys strike compounds TotalEnergies' LNG exposure across two geographies at the same time.

The Hormuz connection shapes the supply balance. On June 14, the United States and Iran announced an agreement to reopen the strait, which had been closed since March 2 following US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Persian Gulf LNG shipments fell an estimated 99% from pre-conflict levels during the 104-day closure, per shipping data on the 2026 Strait of Hormuz campaign. As Qatari and other Gulf cargoes begin returning to the market, the Ichthys outage removes a concurrent source of Australian supply, limiting net relief for Asian spot buyers.

Inpex's Broader Australian Position

Inpex expanded its Ichthys stake in 2024, acquiring Tokyo Gas's 1.575% interest to raise its share from 66.245% to 67.82%. In May 2026, the company advanced offtake discussions for the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia and acquired a minority interest in the Browse gas field off Western Australia. Analysts cited by Offshore Energy have noted the potential for a third liquefaction train at Ichthys itself, which would push capacity beyond the current 9.2 million tonnes per annum.