The death brings Indonesia’s overall death toll from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain to 82.

Speaking at the 2007 National Oil and Gas Safety Conference, Woodside Energy’s chief health and medical officer Andrew Jeremijenko told delegates a flu pandemic generally strikes every 30 years, meaning Australia and the world was “overdue” for one.

“I believe the [Asian] bird flu could be the next pandemic,” he said.

If a flu pandemic hit Australia’s shores, Jeremijenko said Woodside had a range of measures to help minimise the impact on its oil and gas operations in the northwest.

“Exports would be down, so our priority would be to keep the gas flowing to the domestic market,” he said.

“Our plan would be to keep Goodwyn and North Rankin going, while others like Endeavour we would close down.”

Some measures already underway include stockpiling anti-viral drugs and practice drills for staff.

In a breakout, Jeremijenko said Woodside would use infrared cameras to screen people for illness and, if necessary, test and isolate them.

“Rigs can either be the safest place in the world or a death trap,” he said.

“But simple things like washing your hands or coughing into a handkerchief can make a big difference.”

He also said the company would increase cleaning staff and continue injecting funds into support services, such as local hospitals.

A 29-year-old woman who died in a hospital in Bali's capital Denpasar on Sunday was carrying the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, Bayu Krisnamurti, head of Indonesia's national bird flu commission, in Jakarta, said.

The woman's five-year-old daughter died on August 3 but samples were not taken from her, while a two-year-old neighbour was admitted to hospital on Sunday and is suspected of being infected.

Worldwide the H5N1 virus has killed 192 people out of 319 infected patients since reappearing in late 2003, a World Health Organisation toll dated July 25 stated.

But the organisation fears millions more lives are at risk if the virus mutates into a human flu strain.