NLNG: Nigeria Risks Losing Global Gas Relevance as Market Share Slips to 5%

Nigeria's position in the global liquefied natural gas market is under severe threat, with its market share shrinking and potentially plummeting further if critical issues are not addressed. The Managing Director and CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Adeleye Falade, warned that the country's share has dropped to 5% from 6% and could fall to as low as 2% without immediate action to resolve feedstock supply challenges and boost processing capacity.

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About three to four years ago, NLNG held six per cent of global LNG market share. Eventually, we’re down to five per cent. There are other countries that are growing. If we don’t do anything, we’ll go down to three per cent. We’ll go down to two per cent. But that’s not our dream. Our dream is that we’ll continue to stay relevant even in the global space.

Falade highlighted that Nigeria's slow capacity growth contrasts sharply with global competitors who are rapidly monetizing their gas reserves. He pointed out that Australia, with significantly smaller gas reserves than Nigeria, possesses a much larger processing capacity. Similarly, Malaysia, despite having less gas than Nigeria, has a greater processing capacity.

This disparity means Nigeria risks forfeiting billions of dollars in potential export earnings, foreign direct investment, and strategic relevance. Falade emphasized that the global shift away from "dirty energy" creates a limited window for gas-producing nations to maximize their potential. He noted that gas remains a dominant part of the energy mix for decades to come, extending beyond power generation to fertilizers, petrochemicals, cosmetics, and transport.

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While the world has moved away from sources of energy that are very dirty… gas will still be dominant in the energy mix, not just for today, not just in 10, 20, 30, up to the next 40, 50 years. But we can’t assume that window will be open for a long period of time.

The NLNG CEO stressed the need for greater ambition in Nigeria's growth strategy to fully leverage its "potential that God has given us as a country." The company aims to remain relevant in the global space, but this requires addressing the current limitations in liquefaction capacity, which stands at 22 million tons per annum (MTPA) via NLNG's Bonny Island plant, despite proven reserves of 215.19 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and an estimated 600 TCF yet to be proven.

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What all of that is doing is allowing us to be able to maximise that potential that God has given us as a country.