Venture Global Bests Shell in Calcasieu Pass LNG Arbitration

Venture Global ended arbitration with Shell in the companies’ ongoing eight-month case involving Calcasieu Pass LNG contracts.

Venture Global said it had received a “positive tribunal decision” in a statement released on the afternoon of Aug. 12. The company did not list any financial or logistical details from the decision, other than the customer involved was Shell.

Shell did not respond to a request for comment from Hart Energy.

None of the other companies involved in arbitration with Venture Global were mentioned.

“We are pleased with the tribunal’s determination which reaffirms what Venture Global has maintained from the outset—the plain language in our contracts, mutually agreed upon with all of our customers, is clear,” the company said in the statement. “We have consistently honored these agreements without exception.”

The dispute goes back to the start of production at Calcasieu Pass LNG in 2022. Although it was producing LNG, Venture Global said the plant was still in a commissioning phase, and therefore not required to sell LNG to the group of customers who had signed long-term contracts before operations began.

The company instead sold its LNG cargoes on the more profitable spot market.

The long-term customers included Shell, BP, Galp and Repsol, who argued that Venture Global was under contract to sell them LNG as soon as production started.

The case went to arbitration in December 2024. Venture Global announced commissioning was complete and began shipping to its long-term customers in April.

Venture Global hinted a decision was forthcoming in a statement made as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission filing required for its second-quarter earnings report.

Referring to the Calcasieu Pass LNG project, VG reviewed the dispute. The customers who filed for arbitration are demanding damages ranging between $6.7 billion and $7.4 billion, rather than termination of their supply contracts, the company reported.

The damages are limited to $1.6 billion under the disputed contracts, but some customers are seeking damages over the cap.