LNG

The US Department of Energy issued its May 2024 liquefied natural gas and pipelines export and import data report with the Netherlands heading the cargo destination list for the first three months of 2024 and with Germany paying the second-highest prices for cargoes of any nation apart from the Dominican Republic.

Venture Global LNG, the developer of the Plaquemines export plant on the Mississippi River, expects in new regulatory filings to begin production around mid-2024 at the eighth US LNG export facility and the second plant owned and operated by Venture Global.

The Arlington, Virginia-based company has requested approval from the US Department of Energy’s Fossil Fuels body to receive up to three imported LNG cargoes as part of the Plaquemines commissioning process to cool down equipment ahead of the plant start-up.

Plaquemines has also asked for and received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval for natural gas supply to be delivered on its Gator Express pipeline venture.

“Plaquemines LNG submitted Volume 321 of the Implementation Plan, which contained information regarding the introduction of gas to the gas gate,” said the FERC filing.

LNG confidential

Plaquemines also requested that the response and attachments “be treated as both privileged and confidential and withheld from public disclosure” as they contain proprietary information used by Plaquemines LNG and its third-party consultants that is “customarily treated” as privileged and confidential.

Even though the role of the FERC is to inform the public about energy developments Venture Global has almost permanently requested non-disclosure by the FERC as the information “could result in commercial and competitive harm” to Plaquemines LNG and its consultants.

The Plaquemines liquefaction facility is on a 630-acre site with 1.3 miles of Mississippi River frontage.

The Gator Express venture comprises two pipelines, each with capacity of around 1.9 billion cubic feet per day to deliver natural gas from pipeline interconnections to the Plaquemines plant located about 20 miles south of New Orleans.

The liquefaction plant’s total planned capacity is 20 million tonnes per annum with the first phase to produce 10 MTPA.

Long commissioning

Venture Global's existing Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana shipped its first cargo in March 2022 and comprises 18 small-scale modular liquefaction Trains each with 0.626 million tonnes per annum of capacity and configured in nine blocks for total nameplate output of 11.26 MTPA.

In addition to the Plaquemines plant Venture Global is developing the CP2 project, so called because it will be built adjacent to the Calcasieu Pass facility, and the Delta LNG plant.

The three newer plants will each have nameplate capacity of around 20 MTPA.

Venture Global has signed up many energy companies from around the world as long-term customers for its various projects.

The company has also been the subject of complaints and arbitration proceedings brought by customers such as Shell and BP over the commissioning process at Calcasieu Pass.

The commissioning has lasted for more than two years, and thus deprived customers of contracted cargoes available once commissioning comes to an end and the commercial start-up begins.

FERC finally intervened in the long-running dispute between Venture Global LNG and its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana and major customers over delays in activating sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) for contract cargoes.

The regulator asked Venture Global to explain why it has extensively filed “confidential” documents in relation to the Calcasieu Pass export project.

The US Department of Energy issued its March 2024 liquefied natural gas and pipelines export and import data with Turkey as the leading destination for LNG shipments while the leadership in highest prices remained with the Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.

The US Department of Energy published its latest liquefied natural gas export data with the Netherlands as the leading destination for the first 11 months of 2023 while the leadership in highest prices remained with the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana.

The US Department of Energy published its latest LNG export data with France, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and South Korea and Japan being the main destinations while prices for that period began to rise and shipments from Calcasieu Pass were the most expensive.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing more cargoes pointed at both Europe and North Asia with the Netherlands and Italy being the most favoured monthly destinations in the European Union just before the spike in prices.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing more cargoes pointed at North Asia instead of mainly European nations after prices moderated after mid-year from 2023 highs.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing a regional spread of US shipments with leading monthly destinations including France, the Netherlands, Japan and Argentina as prices steadily declined from 2023 highs, though edged higher on average from the previous month.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing that shipments to Germany halved when the winter season ended and during 2023 US export facilities delivered 21 shipments to German import terminals through April 2023, while the UK, Spain and France extended their lead over China as cargo destinations.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing that Germany has for the first time entered the monthly list for being a top five recipient of US shipments, though most of the cargoes delivered to Germany were relatively expensive ones.