LNG increasingly underpins energy system flexibility and security

“Surfing the Wave”: Global build-out of capacity means LNG increasingly underpins energy system flexibility and security

LNG infrastructure has crossed a threshold: it is no longer merely a “swing” commodity that smooths seasonal peaks, but an infrastructure-backed system anchor that many power and industrial systems increasingly plan around. The latest IGU World LNG Report 2025 captures the scale of this shift: global LNG trade rose 2.4% in 2024 to 411.24 million tonnes (MT), connecting 22 exporting with 48 importing markets. At the same time, global liquefaction capacity increased to 494.4 MTPA by end‑2024, while global regasification capacity expanded to 1,064.7 MTPA across 47 markets.

That simultaneous expansion on both sides of the value chain is the critical policy point. When regasification grows rapidly, importing regions gain access to a broader set of suppliers and cargo pathways; when liquefaction runs at high utilisation with limited slack, exporting systems become structurally important to global reliability

A parallel dynamic is happening on the import side: the “insurance” value of LNG infrastructure is rising faster than its short‑term throughput. Last year the IGU reported 66.6 MTPA of new regasification capacity coming online (10 new terminals, six expansions, and one restart), with floating solutions accounting for over half of additions—precisely because they can be deployed quickly and flexibly when security of supply becomes paramount.

In advance of the IGU’s upcoming 2026 World LNG Report – to be released next quarter - this infographic brings capacity and actual numbers up-to-date in some key importing and exporting centres.    

LNG increasingly delivers systemic value via access, optionality and resilience, far beyond the headline trade volumes.

Northwestern Europe

Northwestern Europe’s role in the pivot is best understood as a deliberate move from marginal LNG participation to permanent import optionality. After the 2022 supply shock, governments and markets moved rapidly to expand import optionality — particularly through floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which can be deployed far faster than traditional terminals. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, for instance, chartered multiple FSRUs as part of an emergency acceleration of import infrastructure.

Southern Europe
Southern Europe’s LNG role is often that of gateway and balancer—a region that can combine LNG import capacity with pipeline connectivity to spread supply across wider markets. New and expanded receiving capacity—including projects in Greece—reinforces a policy model in which Southern Europe is both a domestic supply source and a regional flexibility hub.

China, Japan, and India

In Asia, the LNG’s “system anchor” role is increasingly tied to power system adequacy under heatwaves and rapid electrification.  The latest IGU World LNG Report showed that China alone drove 25.1 MTPA of new regasification capacity additions (new terminals and expansions), underscoring a policy choice to embed LNG access into the national energy security toolkit. For policymakers, the benefit is flexibility: LNG can support peak power, backstop variable renewables, and provide a scalable alternative where coal displacement or local air-quality goals remain central—while also enabling buyers to arbitrage between term and spot supply depending on price and demand conditions.

Brazil
Brazil shows LNG’s growing role in climate‑exposed hydro systems. Brazil’s LNG imports surged 2.28 MT to 2.94 MT in 2024, with demand driven by higher gas‑for‑power needs following drought and weak hydropower output. Brazil has recently brought online multiple new floating regasification units, adding meaningful capacity in a short period—again reinforcing LNG as a flexibility asset rather than a purely baseload fuel.

Egypt
Egypt re‑entered the import market through the restart of an FSRU, reflecting how floating regasification can be deployed to address a widening supply gap on short timelines. LNG infrastructure can provide rapid “shock absorbers” when domestic production, weather, and power demand move abruptly out of alignment.

United States, Qatar and Australia
The “near‑100% utilisation” in key supplying countries marks two consequences. First, it makes long‑term contracting and portfolio diversity more valuable for importers, because marginal spot availability can tighten quickly when the “big three” are already running hard. Second, it increases the geopolitical and economic importance of stable investment frameworks in these exporting hubs, because delays or disruptions translate into global security-of-supply risk.

The Pivot

Security: LNG enhances energy security by diversifying supply sources and routes beyond fixed pipelines. Global LNG trade provides redundancy, allowing countries to substitute suppliers, reduce geopolitical exposure, and insure against outages or unexpected disruptions.

Flexibility: Destination-flexible LNG cargoes allow Gas to flow toward the tightest markets, arbitraging regional imbalances. This optionality dampens extreme scarcity, improves market integration, and gives buyers tactical freedom to respond to shifting price and demand signals.

System benefits: LNG-backed Gas generation offers fast ramping and reliable dispatch, providing critical backup during weather shocks and periods of low renewable output. This flexibility supports grid stability as power systems integrate higher shares of wind and solar.