NLNG urges global gas producers to cut methane emissions

Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas has urged the global gas industry to make methane reduction a business priority, calling emissions lost gas and lost revenue. The company disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday. NLNG’s managing director, Adeleye Falade, made the call at the ongoing Gastech 2026 Exhibition and Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Mr Falade spoke during a panel discussion, ‘Capturing the Lost Opportunity: Driving Global Alignment on Methane Abatement Across Natural Gas Supply Chains’, urging the industry to shift its focus from the cost of methane reduction to the commercial value created by preventing gas losses. ”Every tonne emitted is lost product. Lost revenue and lost energy; gas we could have sold,” he said. He explained that the NLNG approach involved measuring methane losses and using the findings to guide investment in leak prevention and gas recovery. According to him, independent verification is also critical to ensuring credible emissions reporting and assessing the effectiveness of interventions. The managing director cited NLNG’s new boil-off gas compressor and start-up gas recovery project as examples of investments supporting methane reduction. ”Each project targets methane reductions of about 10 to 15 per cent and has positive projected net present values. The projects that cut our methane also pay for themselves. The same discipline that reduces methane also improves asset reliability and plant efficiency,” he said. Mr Falade added that credible measurement enabled NLNG to identify methane losses, direct resources towards appropriate interventions and assess results. He said gas producers in developing economies could establish globally trusted emissions-reporting systems by investing in monitoring infrastructure and independent verification. He highlighted the company’s Gold Standard recognition under the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, disclosing that NLNG was the first company in Africa to achieve ‘Level 5’ methane emissions reporting, with its measurement, reporting and verification system independently assured by DNV, a global assurance and certification company. According to him, NLNG methane management includes optical gas imaging, a structured Leak Detection and Repair programme and continuous monitoring. The NLNG executive said credible measurement depended on commitment rather than geography, adding that the company had demonstrated that globally trusted systems could be implemented in Africa. Mr Falade added that NLNG was incorporating methane reduction into the design of its ‘Train 7’ project, noting that the project would raise production capacity from 22 million to 30 million tonnes annually. At the national level, Mr Falade said NLNG’s efforts to monetise gas that would otherwise have been flared had helped reduce Nigeria’s gas-flaring rate. ”The rate had fallen from more than 65 per cent to below 20 per cent. The conversion of wasted gas into marketable products is a commercial case for emissions abatement,” he said. On climate action and energy access, he said NLNG’s operations supported Nigeria’s net-zero emissions target for 2060 and zero routine flaring by 2030. He stressed that emissions reduction must progress alongside efforts to meet the energy needs of households and businesses. ”Developing economies cannot be asked to choose between economic development and emissions reduction. Both must progress together,” he said.