LNG – The Energy Security Driver

At the Energy Asia Executive Conference that took place earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, IGU’s President – Mr Andrea Stegher – took to the stage to advocate for the role of LNG as a global energy security driver.

On the second day of the Conference presented by IGU’s member – Petronas – and supported by CERAWeek as Knowledge Partner, in a Plenary panel session entitled “LNG Partnerships for Energy”, IGU’s President provided his insights on how collaborative investment strategies, innovative business models, and long-term offtake agreements are driving resilient LNG infrastructures.

“The LNG market remains tight, even though there the global LNG liquefaction capacity grew by 6.5 MTPA in 2024, to a total of 494.4 MTPA, and only 14.8 MTPA of new liquefaction capacity reached FID, the lowest annual approval volume since 2020 and well below the 58.8 MTPA greenlighted in 2023.

As clearly  highlighted in our recently launched 2025 World LNG Report, while several geopolitical tensions and conflicts continue to reshape global Gas flows and drive interest in new liquefaction capacity, many pre-FID projects face uncertainty due to economic headwinds, regulatory hurdles, and rising pressure to align with decarbonisation targets. More capacity will be needed to address both energy growing demand and medium-term price stabilisation.”

Among the key points in Stegher’s intervention was the aspect related to the LNG industry’s decarbonisation and rapid adoption of low carbon-intensive processes:

“Decarbonisation continues to play an increasingly central role in liquefaction project development. Across the sector, stakeholders are advancing electrification, CCS integration, and alternative fuels like e-methane. And LNG, and Gas at large, can provide immediate opportunities to significant emissions’ reduction with coal and oil to gas switching.  Canada will use hydropower for its operations, while Australia is assessing a CCS injection project, and it’s worthy to mention that last year, a bio-LNG shipment was delivered to Japan, demonstrating the potential for synthetic and renewable gas integration into the LNG value chain.”

For Stegher, LNG’s flexibility and dispatchability represent two of the main factors that continue to contribute to LNG’s attractiveness as an energy security bridge between importing emerging economies and LNG exporters. For Asia, in particular, IGU’s President highlighted that “while long-term fundamentals in Asia remain supportive – especially with Southeast Asia expected to become a net gas importer by the 2030s – short-term challenges persist. However, as an industry, we should jointly find the best options to address these challenges; in doing so, our global Gas industry will become more resilient, more adaptable and more efficient.”

While in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Stegher, also attended a meeting with The Right Honourable Dato’ Sri Fadillah Yusof, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation of Malaysia, facilitated by Mr Abdul Aziz Othman, President of the Malaysian Gas Association (MGA), and IGU’s Regional Coordinator for Southeast and South Asia.

During the meeting, both parties exchanged views on the evolving global energy landscape, the role of natural gas in a balanced and pragmatic energy transition and on ASEAN’s growing momentum in regional energy integration. IGU’s President reaffirmed IGU’s support for Southeast Asia’s emerging economies and their energy goals, and emphasised the Union’s commitment to fostering collaboration through the convergence of knowledge, technology and innovation, emphasising IGU’s role as the spokesperson of the global Gas industry in advancing sustainable energy systems.