Venture Global announces new offtake deal amid push for commercial operations at Plaquemines

US LNG developer Venture Global (NYSE: VG) announced last week that it had signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) covering 1mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG.

The agreement will begin in 2030. No other details were disclosed in the October 1 announcement. However, Venture Global’s CEO, Mike Sabel, said the agreement reflected “continued market confidence” in his company’s “proven ability to deliver reliable, low-cost US LNG quickly and at scale”.

Indeed, on the same day that it announced the SPA, Venture Global also asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorisation to put Phase 1 of its Plaquemines LNG export facility into commercial service. The filing is not currently accessible to the public, but Reuters reported that Venture Global cited the success of its commissioning operations at Plaquemines in its request to place all of Phase 1 into service. This comes ahead of the company’s previously announced target date of October 31 for the start of commercial operations at Plaquemines.

Venture Global has made a name for itself by rapidly building new liquefaction capacity on the Louisiana Gulf Coast in recent years. However, after the company went from a final investment decision (FID) to first LNG at Calcasieu Pass, its first LNG terminal, in 29 months, it took a further 38 months for the facility to begin commercial operations.

This led to disputes between Venture Global and its offtakers from Calcasieu Pass, some of which still remain unresolved. Offtakers initiated arbitration proceedings against Venture Global, arguing that the company was in breach of contractual obligations, with mixed results.

While some proceedings went in Venture Global’s favour, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled in favour of BP (NYSE: BP) in a case last year. BP is now seeking $3.7bn to more than $6.0bn in damages, with a separate hearing scheduled for May 2027. Venture Global disputes the level of damages BP is seeking.

According to recent filings, Venture Global still has two pending arbitration claims, with offtakers seeking combined damages of over $2.4bn. The company also disputes the extent of these damages claims.

However, the disputes do not appear to have deterred new customers from signing long-term offtake agreements with Venture Global. Indeed, the SPA with ConocoPhillips was the second to be announced by Venture Global in the past month. In mid-September, the company announced an SPA with China Gas (0384.HK) for 500,000 tpy over a 20-year period also starting in 2030. This, in turn, was also one of a series of new SPAs that Venture Global has signed in recent months.