Venture Global is on track to surpass Cheniere Energy to become the biggest U.S. LNG company by liquefaction capacity if regulators approve the CP2 export project, Reuters reports, citing LSEG and project data.
Venture Global is urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to greenlight its third liquefaction plant, CP2 in Louisiana, by the middle of the year.
The CP2 LNG facility will be located adjacent to Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
CP2 LNG was initially proposed to be a facility with a capacity of 20 million metric tons per annum (mtpa), but Venture Global has raised the maximum capacity to 28 mtpa.
Venture Global’s two operational LNG export terminals, Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines, have a combined capacity of 38.5 mtpa. CP2 would add another 28 mtpa and raise the company’s total export capacity to 66.5 mtpa, above Cheniere’s 60 mtpa, according to Reuters estimates.
Venture Global more than doubled its first-quarter revenue from a year earlier as its Plaquemines and Calcasieu Pass plants have launched operations and exports in recent months.
Last month, Venture Global started contractual deliveries from its first LNG export project, Calcasieu Pass, to its long-term customers amid an ongoing dispute with major oil and gas firms over the delays to the official commercial operations date at the export project.
Shell, BP, and several other European energy majors have been in a dispute with Venture Global after the U.S. LNG exporter refused to start deliveries to them under long-term contracts in favor of selling its LNG on the spot market, making billions of dollars, according to the clients.
Venture Global plans on contracting currently uncontracted capacity at CP2 as well as expansion capacity at Plaquemines under a blend of three to twenty-year contract tenders, Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said on the earnings call earlier this month.
“The current regulatory environment is supportive of the U. S. LNG industry and we have been thrilled with the backing we have received from President Trump and the current administration, members of Congress, governors including Governor Landry, Louisiana state legislators from both sides of the aisle and government and industry representatives from allied nations,” Sabel added.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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