Reading the data: frequently asked questions

What does pre-construction mean for an LNG project?#

That the project has cleared its main hurdles, usually a final investment decision or its permits, but has not started building. It is the strongest signal short of construction that capacity is genuinely coming.

Is proposed capacity likely to be built?#

Historically much of it is not. Proposed covers everything from a press release to an advanced permit application, and a large share never reaches a final investment decision.

What is a final investment decision?#

The point at which the owners commit the money and sign the construction contracts. Before it, a project is an intention; after it, a commitment with contracts behind it.

What is the difference between mothballed and shelved?#

Mothballed describes a built facility taken out of service but maintained so it could restart. Shelved describes a project that was never built and whose development has been paused indefinitely.

Why do capacity figures differ between sources?#

Mostly because of which statuses they include. A figure counting proposed projects can be several times one counting only operating capacity, and headlines rarely say which is which.

From What terminal status actually means.

Why do two sources give different capacities for the same terminal?#

Usually one of four reasons — different units and conversion factors, different project statuses included in the total, nameplate design capacity against measured output, or the two sources drawing on different original documents that were never reconciled.

Which source should I trust when two disagree?#

Neither automatically. Check which of the four causes explains the gap, and prefer whichever source states its methodology and basis explicitly, since an unstated assumption is a bigger risk than an old figure.

Do tracker compilers just pick a number?#

They follow a stated methodology, typically preferring the most recent and most specific primary source, but a compiler still has to choose when two similarly-dated official sources disagree, and that judgement is disclosed rarely.

Does GEM revise figures between releases?#

Yes, both for the reasons that would apply to any project, such as a permit change, and because compilers occasionally find a better source for a figure that was always approximate.

Is a bigger number always the wrong one?#

Not necessarily. A larger figure might correctly include debottlenecked capacity a smaller figure missed, or it might wrongly include proposed trains. Size alone tells you nothing about which is right.

From Why capacity figures disagree between sources.

What is the difference between an owner and an operator?#

An owner holds an equity stake and a share of the asset's value. An operator runs the facility day to day and need not hold any ownership at all — the two roles are commonly split, and a large operator can have a small or zero equity stake.

What does "parent company" mean in this context?#

The entity that controls a direct owner, which may itself be controlled by a further parent. A tracker recording parent alongside owner is showing where ultimate control sits, which can differ sharply from where the recorded equity stake sits.

Why would an owner and its parent be recorded separately?#

Because the direct owner is often a joint venture or special-purpose entity created for one project, and that entity's decisions are actually made by the parent companies behind it, so the parent field says who is really deciding.

Can ownership percentages fail to add up to 100 per cent?#

Yes, when a stake is unreported, held by an entity too obscure to identify, or the source simply does not specify the remainder. An unreported gap should never be assumed to belong to any particular party.

Does a change in owner mean a change in operator?#

Not necessarily. An operating contract can survive a change in ownership, and a new owner frequently keeps the existing operator for continuity, so the two should always be checked independently rather than assumed to move together.

From Ownership, parents and why they differ.

Is a tracker the same as real-time monitoring?#

No. A tracker compiles public sources on a periodic release cycle, so every figure reflects the most recent update the compiler applied, not a live measurement. Between releases, real-world changes can occur that the tracker has not yet captured.

Why might a tracker miss a project entirely?#

Because it relies on public disclosure, and some projects — particularly very early proposals, small facilities, or those in jurisdictions with limited public reporting — may never generate a source the compiler can find and verify.

Can a tracker be wrong about something that is publicly documented?#

Yes, through transcription error, an outdated source being used after a newer one existed, or a genuine misreading of an ambiguous primary document. This is uncommon but not impossible, and it is one reason to check a surprising figure against its cited source.

Does a status change in the tracker mean something changed in the world?#

Usually, but not always. It can also mean the compiler reclassified a project based on better information about a state that already existed, without anything in the world having changed at that moment.

What should I do if a tracker figure seems implausible?#

Check the release date and the field's basis, look for a more recent or more specific primary source if one exists, and treat the tracker's own change history if available as more informative than the current snapshot alone.

From What a tracker can and cannot tell you.

How should I cite data from this site?#

Cite the underlying source directly using the attribution line shown on the page — "Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, [release]" — since the figures themselves originate there. Cite this site separately for any grouping, computed total, or written summary that is original to it.

Can I reuse the figures on this site under the CC BY 4.0 licence?#

The underlying GEM data is CC BY 4.0 and freely reusable with attribution to Global Energy Monitor. Original written content on this site, including explainers and summaries, follows this site's own terms.

What should I check before citing a specific figure?#

The release date shown in the attribution line, whether the figure is by status or a combined total, whether it is Mtpa, bcm/y or another unit, and whether it is a design or measured figure — the same checks set out throughout this reading-the-data track.

Does this site ever estimate a figure GEM does not report?#

No. An empty GEM field is shown as "Not reported," never filled in with an estimate, so any number on this site can be traced back to something the source actually stated.

What should I do if I find a figure on this site that looks wrong?#

Check it against the current Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker release directly, since this site's figures are derived from that source and any discrepancy is either an ingest issue here or a subsequent revision at the source.

From How to cite this site, and what to check first.