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Venture Global starts commercial operations at first LNG export project
Calcasieu Pass has begun selling US LNG to customers
Venture Global said its inaugural LNG export project – Calcasieu Pass – has begun selling US LNG to the project’s long-term customers.
"Calcasieu Pass has reached this milestone in just 68 months from the final investment decision on the project, making it among the fastest greenfield LNG projects completed. The project’s multi-billion-dollar contracts will have a significant positive impact on the US balance of trade with several European allies," the company said in a statement.
Venture Global said its "owner-led approach to construction" allowed the company to "overcome significant unforeseen challenges, including a global pandemic, two hurricanes, and a force majeure event that arose due to major manufacturing issues with the facility’s power island".
The company said its Calcasieu Pass facility is ready to operate "safely and reliably".
The long-term sales and purchase agreements at Calcasieu Pass are among the most attractive price points for customers in the world, with average liquefaction fees under US$2/mmbtu. Its long-term customers will benefit from low-cost North American LNG for the full duration of their 20-year contracts, according to Venture Global chief executive Mike Sabel.
In December 2024, Venture Global LNG announced the successful loading and departure of the first LNG cargo produced from the company’s Plaquemines LNG facility. The inaugural commissioning cargo was loaded onto Venture Global Bayou – one vessel in Venture Global’s fleet of nine new LNG carriers – and is being shipped to ENBW in Germany, marking over 60 LNG cargoes sent from Venture Global into Germany since 2022, according to the company.
Also in December 2024, Venture Global LNG said it would contest a US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) withdrawal of authorisation for the company’s LNG export facility in Louisiana. The FERC argued a further environmental review would be necessary to authorise the facility, stemming from a President Joe Biden-led mandate for reassessment that cited concerns over air quality impacts from the use of fossil fuels.
The move came in the wake of a 6 August 2024 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court overturned FERC’s approval of NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, requiring a revised environmental impact statement and a public comment period.
On 23 January, 2025, after President Donald Trump was inaugurated and revoked a President Joe Biden-imposed Executive Order 12898, NextDecade submitted a filing with the court claiming the issues the court based its decision on were no longer applicable. The FERC also filed a letter with the court stating “regulatory processes adhere to only the relevant legislated requirements for environmental considerations".
On 18 March, 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a revision to its August 2024 judgment, remanding without vacatur FERC’s order for the first five liquefaction trains at the Rio Grande LNG facility.
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