Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas, NLNG, Limited’s Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Engr. Adeleye Falade as the Company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, following the expiration of Mr Philip Mshelbila’s tenure after more than four years of transformative leadership.
Falade, who is expected to assume office in April 2026, will join NLNG from Brunei LNG, where he currently serves as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.
NLNG, on Friday held a symbolic send-off ceremony in Abuja to mark the end of the tenure of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Philip Mshelbila.
Mshelbila will formally exit NLNG on December 31, 2025, to take up his new international assignment as Secretary-General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, GECF, in Doha, Qatar.
A statement by NLNG’s Manager, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, said the Abuja ceremony was attended by members of the NLNG Board, executives of shareholder companies, dignitaries from the public sector and Nigeria’s energy industry, members of NLNG management, and representatives of various staff groups.
Speaking at the event, NLNG’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr Olakunle Osobu, described Mshelbila as a leader of distinction and an accomplished professional whose expertise cuts across medicine, environmental health, strategic business leadership, and global gas diplomacy.
Osobu noted that Mshelbila’s tenure was defined by a clear strategic focus on business sustainability, operational diversification, and emissions control, with safety as a non-negotiable priority.
He recalled that the outgoing MD assumed leadership at a time of unprecedented challenges, including the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, severe flooding that disrupted gas pipelines, widespread vandalism, and force majeure declarations by gas suppliers.
According to him, these pressures were compounded by global energy market disruptions triggered by the Russia–Ukraine war.
Despite these headwinds, Osobu said NLNG, under Mshelbila’s leadership, pursued its sustainability objectives with courage, resilience, and innovation.
“Understanding that NLNG needed multiple supply sources, especially with current challenges, Mshelbila championed a bold and strategic pivot to expand NLNG’s feed-gas base beyond the shareholder joint-venture supply chain.
“Under his leadership, NLNG negotiated and signed long-term Gas Supply Agreements (GSAs) with six third-party gas suppliers in August 2025. These GSAs commit to delivering an estimated 1,290 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of feed-gas to NLNG, a historic step for the Company, marking a seismic shift,” he said.
He added that Mshelbila consistently promoted innovation and a forward-looking mindset, galvanising NLNG’s workforce to deepen its commitment to emissions reduction and environmental stewardship.
He said the outgoing MD also redefined NLNG’s business model through a comprehensive transformation programme that laid a strong foundation for long-term sustainability and value creation.
Also paying tribute, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Mrs Sophia Horsfall, lauded Mshelbila’s leadership style and enduring legacy.
“Thank you for your selflessness, for the steadiness of your leadership, for the clarity of your vision, and for the values that guided your every step.
“You led with humility, yet inspired greatness. You carried the weight of challenges with calm resolve and charted a path toward sustainability long before it became fashionable,” she said.
Responding, Mshelbila expressed deep appreciation to NLNG’s shareholders, Board of Directors, employees, and industry partners for their support throughout his tenure.
The MD commended the Company’s strong culture of innovation and excellence, noting that these values would continue to shape his contributions in his new role at the GECF.
As Secretary-General of GECF, Mshelbila will strengthen dialogue between gas-producing and gas-consuming nations, advancing stability in the international gas market.
