The regulation of emissions in the LNG industry is in need of more collaboration between regulators and market participants, panel members concluded over a discussion at the LNG2026 conference in Doha.
The challenge arises when a region begins to put in place regulations that have extraterritorial implications, which eventually imposes penalties on all parties across the supply chain, General Exporting Countries Forum secretary-general Dr Philip Mshelbila said. Not every developing country that is producing gas and LNG can meet those standards. The moment that they cannot, they are excluded from the EU market, which then begins to have a connotation of trade discrimination, he said.
The European Commission, for example, has been slow in the past two years [since the release of the EU Methane Regulation in August 2024] in responding to market needs and contextualising present trends, German state-owned Uniper senior executive Kavita Ahluwalia said.
Firms risk a penalty of 20pc of annual revenue if they fail to comply, "and that is too much for us to bear", Ahluwalia added. And companies struggle to sign any new contracts because of the lack of flexibility, "which is a real shame given the fact that the LNG market is set to face an oversupply in the next few years, because we will lose out from potentially cheaper gas", she said.
The commission could provide an interim period, which may allow firms to extend existing contracts under terms that are compliant with emissions regulations, panellists suggested.
Panel members emphasised that participants want to reduce emissions, but with less bureaucracy and "more clever" ways of handling it. Producers and users alike wish for predictability in what is required to be compliant, panellists said in consensus. "Firms should not be penalised for something that is outside of their control, especially in a complex value chain," Ahluwalia said.
Methane leaks cannot be stopped
Panellists agreed that methane slip is inevitable in the industry, highlighting that "fugitive gas" is embedded in LNG operations and participants have to be more proactive than reactive.
Fugitive gas refers primarily to methane emissions that escape into the atmosphere from various sources, particularly from undetected leaks throughout operations.
But there are levels in the LNG industry where participants can identify methane slips, taken in a preliminary approach to mitigate emissions.
An integrated solution — from pre-treatment to liquefaction, for instance — allows firms to scale up or down their operations to ensure efficiency and may be the easiest way to offset a part of operational costs. "Through integration, firms can identify a leak that is previously undetectable at some point in your operation, or a compressor that's not running as well as it should," US-based infrastructure developer Honeywell senior executive Ken West said.
Reducing emissions in the gas and LNG sector, especially fugitive gas, can be done on three levels, TotalEnergies' LNG assets and business development vice-president, Arnaud Lenail-Chouteau, said. Firstly, through efficient routine-flaring, given that it accounts for nearly 50pc of TotalEnergies' overall methane emissions, he said. This is followed by venting, which involves replacing gas with air in pneumatic instruments, which has led to an overall decrease of methane intensity of TotalEnergies' northern US shale gas assets by 16pc. Lastly, by early detection of leakage by deploying a network of sensors, he said.
Methane slippage is also prone to happen, caused by boil-off gas when LNG carriers load, Mshelbila said, who was the former chief executive of NLNG, operator of Nigeria's 22mn t/yr Bonny export plant.
Bonny completed a project at the end of 2025, which captures boil-off gas, compresses it, feeds it back into the system and liquefies it as LNG.
