DOE Allows Venture Global to Raise Export Capacity of Calcasieu Pass LNG

Venture Global Inc. has received an amended permit from the Department of Energy (DOE) for increased exports of up to 12 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) from the operational Calcasieu Pass LNG.

The new DOE order amended the non-FTA portion of the Louisiana project’s export authorization without requiring an environmental assessment. According to the Arlington, Virginia-based developer, the requested volume increase did not entail the building of new facilities or modification of existing facilities but rather resulted from a refined analysis of the project’s design.

“These multibillion-dollar investments will be key as the United States strengthens global energy security and increases energy trade with our partners around the world”, Venture Global chief executive Mike Sabel said in an online statement from the company.

“With this decision, DOE is continuing to return to regular order on LNG exports”, Tala Goudarzi, principal deputy assistant secretary of the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, said in a separate statement from the department.

DOE granted the FTA portion of the requested increase in April 2022. With the non-FTA portion, the new total capacity is 640.666 Bcf per year on a non-additive basis, compared to the initial permitted volume of 620 Bcf per year. Calcasieu Pass is allowed to export LNG until 2050, as specified in the initial permit.

Calcasieu Pass started exporting March 2022 but only began “commercial” operations, as declared by Venture Global, in April 2025.

The 432-acre Calcasieu Pass sits on the Calcasieu Ship Channel at the mouth of the Gulf of America. The facility provides deepwater access, proximity to gas supplies and ease of transport, according to Venture Global.

“Concurrently with this order, DOE is issuing a categorical exclusion from the preparation of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the amendment application”, stated the official text of the new order.

“Additionally, the incremental amendment volume approved in this order brings DOE’s cumulative total of approved non-FTA exports of LNG from the lower-48 states to 52.81 Bcf/d of natural gas (across two conditional orders and 40 final orders)”, the order said.

One of the two conditional orders is for another Venture Global project, CP2 LNG. CP2 LNG has already secured authorization for its export volume of the equivalent of 1.45 trillion cubic feet a year of natural gas or about 28 MMtpa of liquefied natural gas, under a DOE order April 2022 granting an FTA permit.

CP2 is now “ready for a final [non-FTA] order now that FERC has concluded its review of the project”, DOE said in its statement announcing authorization for the capacity increase at Calcasieu Pass.

In June, Venture Global said it had started site work at CP2 after receiving final clearance from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Venture Global announced a FID (final investment decision) and the closing of $15.1 billion in financing for phase I of CP2 last month. It expects to start operations at its third LNG project in 2027.

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