After reviewing a collection of private documents about commissioning of Venture Global LNG Inc.’s Calcasieu Pass export terminal, several of its foundational customers are again urging FERC not to approve an extension.
Venture Global has been seeking an additional year to commission its Calcasieu Pass liquefied natural gas facility since February, the same month the facility was expected to be commercially operational. In the months since, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision has been held up by a legal back and forth over documents Calcasieu Pass contract holders have said they need before being able to fully comment on Venture Global’s request.
After an agreement to share the information was reached in administrative court, comments from Edison SpA LLC, Galp Energia SA, PKN Orlen SA, Repsol SA and Shell plc were published earlier this month. In their responses, counsel for the companies asked FERC staff to deny the extension.
“The documents reviewed by Shell LNG do nothing to rebut the notion that Venture Global Calcasieu Pass (VGCP) has been able to produce LNG at the facility at or above nameplate capacity,” counsel for Shell wrote. “Nevertheless, the commission need only take VGCP’s request as presented in its conditional form.”
The first commissioning cargo was loaded from the 10 million metric tons/year (mmty) Louisiana terminal in early 2022, making it the fastest U.S. project to go from a final investment decision to first liquefaction. Since then, more than 22 mmt in spot cargoes have left Calcasieu Pass. Most of those volumes have landed in Europe.
However, Venture Global has argued that while LNG production is possible, the facility does not meet the statutory requirements of FERC’s authorization order because not all parts of its facility are complete.
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“Calcasieu Pass continues to believe that its request for a one-year extension of time, if deemed needed, should have been entirely routine,” Venture Global lawyers wrote in a response to FERC. “The Commission has readily granted significantly longer extensions of time for numerous other less-developed LNG export projects, including those that have not yet been financed and have completed little to no construction.”
In March 2023, Venture Global informed FERC its equipment supplier, General Electric Co., would be conducting an investigation of issues with its generators that could lead to extensive repairs.
It updated inspectors in July that contractors had completed repairs on two of the five heat recovery steam generators at Calcasieu Pass, which have been blamed as a key source behind performance issues.
Along with challenges to FERC filings, several of Venture Global’s customers have confirmed they are involved in arbitration with the company over the terms of their contracts and the extended commissioning process.
