Venture Global Purchases LNG Carrier Fleet

Venture Global is purchasing nine LNG carriers with the first two ships expected to be delivered in June, while it also plans to expand its sales operations, the firm’s CEO Mike Sabel said.

• This will enable the firm to sell LNG cargoes directly to into the spot market.
• “We’re long LNG, and we mostly right now view this as just selling LNG rather than traditional traders, where they buy LNG from some producers and sell it to others,” he said. “Over time, we’ll look for opportunities where we will trade cargoes between basins, and that’ll develop naturally.”
• Some of Venture Global’s customers, including Shell, have accused the company of selling highly profitable spot cargoes from its new Calcasieu, Louisiana, export facility while not fulfilling obligations to contracted buyers.
• The ongoing repairs at the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility are due to be completed by the end of the year, Sabel said.
• Venture Global’s second plant — Plaquemines, in Louisiana — could enter production by this summer, Sabel said.