Venture Global LNG starts commercial operations at Calcasieu Pass plant

Venture Global LNG announced on Tuesday that it has started commercial operations at the Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana. This comes more than three year after the company produced its first liquefied gas.

The move to commercial operations means the Arlington-headquartered company has brought an end to the extended commission of the plant which resulted in its customers taking legal action to try and force it to provide them with their contracted cargoes.

Many LNG plants take months to commission a plant or ensure that its systems work as intended. Calcasieu Pass took three years to commission, or ensure that the plant's systems are working as designed.

Shell, BP Orlen Edison Repsol and filed arbitration claims claiming Venture Global LNG intentionally failed to meet their supply contracts by dragging out the commissioning of the plant to profit from higher spot price. Venture Global claimed that a malfunctioning power system caused the delay in normal operations.

Venture Global, a five-year-old startup, is now the U.S.'s second largest LNG producer and has helped make the U.S. the largest LNG exporter in the world.

Even though Venture Global has begun commercial operations, the ongoing legal cases against Venture Global by long-term customers will not be stopped. Shell, Orlen, and Repsol all stated that they would continue to fight Venture Global after they begin receiving cargoes.

Venture Global will also continue to benefit from the strong global spot prices as it ramps up its production at its larger and newer Plaquemines plant. Reporting by Curtis Williams, Houston; editing by Shilpi Mahumdar and Emelia Matarise

(source: Reuters)