Global LNG trade hit a record 437 million tonnes in 2025, almost double the volume a decade earlier — and the industry just sanctioned enough new liquefaction capacity in one year to make the next decade's growth curve steeper, not flatter.
Energy · LNG · Global Trade
Global LNG Trade Hit a Record 437 Million Tonnes in 2025 — Almost Double What It Was a Decade Ago
Revised
· v1.0.0 · what changed
The International Gas Union's 2026 World LNG Report, released 7 July 2026, puts global LNG trade at a record 437 million tonnes in 2025 — up 6.3% on 2024 and the strongest single-year growth since 2022. That is the headline number. The more consequential one is what happened behind it: developers sanctioned 68.4 million tonnes per year of new liquefaction capacity in 2025 alone, the most in any year since 2019, and two countries — Canada, and the Mauritania/Senegal joint project — shipped their first LNG cargoes as exporting nations. The trade is not just bigger than it was a decade ago; it is being built out to get bigger still.
The Trade Doubled in a Decade
| Metric | 2015 (IGU 2016 report) | 2025 (IGU 2026 report) |
|---|---|---|
| Global LNG trade | 244.8 Mt (then an all-time high) | 437 Mt (an all-time high) |
| Year-on-year growth | — | +6.3% (strongest since 2022) |
| New liquefaction capacity sanctioned that year | — | 68.4 Mtpa (highest since 2019) |
| Capacity sanctioned, trailing 5-year window | — | ~206 Mtpa (2021–25), roughly double the prior 5-year cycle |
Two-hundred-and-forty-four-point-eight million tonnes was itself a record when the 2015 figure was set, in the aftermath of the oil-price crash that reshaped LNG contract pricing for years afterward. A decade on, the market has not just grown past that mark — it has grown past it by 78%, and grown fastest in the most recent year on record rather than plateauing. That combination, a record on top of an already-large base, growing at its fastest pace in three years, is the actual story the 2026 report tells.
Two New Exporters, and a Capacity Wall Being Built for the 2030s
Canada and the Mauritania/Senegal joint development both shipped their first cargoes as LNG-exporting nations in 2025, alongside continued supply growth from the United States and Qatar. Behind them, the report tallies about 206 million tonnes per year of new liquefaction capacity sanctioned across 2021–25 — roughly double the volume approved in the previous five-year cycle — and projects total global LNG supply capacity, existing plus under construction, will exceed 700 million tonnes by 2030: a roughly 40% increase from where the market stood in 2025.
Sources: 2026 World LNG Report and press release, International Gas Union, released 7 July 2026; summarized in SAFETY4SEA, Oil & Gas Journal, and Marcellus Drilling News. 2015 baseline (244.8 Mt) from IGU's World LNG Report 2016.
- v1.0.0 — 14 September 2026 — first published.
About this article: Researched, written and edited by Umashankar Triplicane Dwarakanathan, with AI research assistance; every figure is meant to trace to the primary source cited. See the Editorial Policy for how sourcing, AI use and corrections work.
