U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter Venture Global LNG, which is involved in multiple legal fights with clients, has announced it is building a large fleet of LNG-powered vessels.
Venture Global’s fleet will include nine vessels. Six will have a cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic meters and three a cargo capacity of 200,000 cubic meters. The tankers are under construction in South Korea and will be delivered starting later this year. All nine ships will be primarily fueled by Venture Global’s liquefied natural gas. The fleet will enable the company to sell cargoes directly on the spot market without the use of an intermediary or trading house.
The U.S. natural gas startup is in a massive legal battle with clients BP, Shell, Edison, Repsol, Galp Energia, Unipec and Orlen, which say they have lost billions of dollars in revenue.
The companies have sent letters to both U.S. and European officials to investigate Venture Global for reneging on their contracts, accusing the company of wartime profiteering selling LNG on the spot market from its new Louisiana export facility over fulfilling its contractual obligations with them. The company has shipped more than 250 cargoes from Calcasieu Pass and maintains it is in compliance.
Last week, Venture Global sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) a proposed protective order seeking to keep the documents on the construction of the Louisiana export facility confidential. BP, Shell, Edison, Repsol, Galp Energia, Unipec and Orlen have asked FERC for access to the documents.
American Shipper reached out to those companies for comment on the vessel announcement.
Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said in a statement the fleet investment will build on the company’s long-term terminal use agreement for regasification capacity at Europe’s largest LNG import terminal.
“This will be complementary to our core business as a supplier to long-term customers while also enabling optimization and optionality by allowing for the transport of LNG directly to the customer’s point of need,” said Sabel. “We are sending a strong signal to the global market of our long-term commitment to meeting the world’s growing energy demand at a large scale, bolstering the security of our customers and allies by providing them with clean, affordable, and reliable U.S. LNG as efficiently as possible.”
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