We are incorporating methane cuts into $10bn Train 7 project — NLNG

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has said methane reduction measures are being built into the design of its $10 billion Train 7 project as the company moves to raise its liquefied natural gas production capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 30mtpa.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG, Adeleye Falade, disclosed this at Gastech 2026 in Bangkok during a panel session on methane abatement across natural gas supply chains.

Falade said the company was incorporating methane reduction into the project while also deploying measures across its existing operations to reduce gas losses and improve efficiency.

According to him, NLNG’s methane-reduction approach includes site-wide optical gas imaging, a structured Leak Detection and Repair programme, as well as the phased deployment of continuous monitoring and real-time dashboards across its plant and vessels.

He said NLNG’s new boil-off gas compressor and start-up gas recovery project were each targeting methane reductions of about 10 to 15 per cent.

Falade said the company’s experience showed that methane reduction could deliver both environmental and commercial benefits, arguing that gas lost through methane emissions represented lost products and revenue.

“Every tonne emitted is lost product, lost revenue and lost energy; gas we could have sold,” he said.

He said NLNG had also extended its methane-reduction efforts beyond its facilities through its Scope 3 Advocacy Plan, under which the company engages feed-gas suppliers and contractors to measure, disclose and reduce emissions.

The company also obtains verified upstream emissions data from its feed-gas producers and incorporates emissions criteria alongside environmental, social and governance considerations in supplier selection and evaluation.

Falade said credible emissions data was becoming increasingly important to procurement decisions, financing and buyer confidence, making methane measurement and reduction an important part of the gas supply chain.

On its methane reporting, he said NLNG had achieved Level 5 under the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0 framework, with its measurement, reporting and verification system independently assured by DNV under ISO 14064.

Falade also linked NLNG’s gas commercialisation activities to Nigeria’s reduction in gas flaring, saying the company had helped reduce the country’s gas-flaring rate from above 65 per cent to below 20 per cent by monetising gas that would otherwise have been flared.

He urged gas producers to treat methane reduction as a business priority, arguing that investment in leak prevention and gas recovery could improve plant efficiency while reducing emissions.

The NLNG chief executive said the industry should therefore focus less on the cost of methane abatement and more on the value created by recovering gas that would otherwise be lost.

Train 7 is expected to expand NLNG’s production capacity from the current 22mtpa to 30mtpa, strengthening the company’s position in the global LNG market while the project incorporates measures aimed at reducing methane losses.