Kiewit resolves dispute with Venture Global LNG regarding construction disclosures

The president of Kiewit Energy announced that construction contractor Kiewit settled its lawsuit against Venture Global LNG for disclosing information to Shell about the Calcasieu Pass LNG Plant.

Venture Global filed an arbitration complaint against Kiewit on August 2, alleging that it had passed confidential documents to Shell during a dispute regarding the Louisiana LNG plant's commercial production status.

Kiewit Energy's President Tom Shelby said, "There are no ongoing lawsuits. The matter has been settled," on the sidelines Gastech's energy conference.

Venture Global LNG is in contract arbitration with several long-term customers over the failure to deliver cargoes. Shell, BP PLC and Repsol have disputed their inability to access cargoes, more than a decade after the plant began producing and exporting LNG.

Venture Global is not available to comment immediately.

Venture Global said that it had filed a New York State Supreme Court document stating, "Kiewit has been entrusted this information in order to facilitate its work in the construction of a natural-gas liquefaction terminal and export facility in Cameron Parish in Louisiana.

It claimed that the contractor had shared confidential information, including proprietary project development and design methods, as well as configuration methods, on the design and construction of a multi-billion dollar facility.

Shelby refused to confirm if the Louisiana facility was working correctly, saying it would be a Venture Global question. Curtis Williams reported the story.

(source: Reuters)