A court has ruled that Venture Global breached its contract with Portugal’s Galp in the second unfavorable ruling for the U.S. LNG major.
Galp was one of half a dozen energy companies that sued Venture Global for violating its long-term supply contracts for liquefied gas in order to make a fatter profit on the spot market. BP scored the other win against the U.S. company, while Shell and Spain’s Repsol lost their disputes with Venture Global. Italy’s Edison agreed to a settlement with Venture Global.
Venture Global could be liable to billions in damages to the companies that have won their arbitration. One more case is awaiting a ruling, with Poland’s Orlen. The ruling should be out by the end of the year, Reuters said in a report on the latest news.
Shell and the other oil and gas firms accused Venture Global in 2023 of profiteering by selling on the higher-priced spot market LNG cargoes that should have been supplied under their long-term contracts. The U.S. firm used a loophole to do that by extending the deadline for officially commissioning the Calcasieu Pass export project.
Venture Global claimed that it was under no obligation to honor its long-term commitments until the plant was officially commissioned, which happened in 2025. Meanwhile, it managed to build a second LNG facility that produced its first LNG at the end of 2024—before the first one was officially commissioned.
The company’s legal trouble with some of the world’s largest LNG traders—Shell and BP—raised investor concerns about trust and the possibility that other potential LNG trading clients could hesitate to partner with the company. The favorable rulings on the Shell and Repsol cases allayed these concerns, and the news about ConocoPhillips inking a 20-year supply deal with Venture Global earlier this month should have a similar effect on investors.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
