Three years after it shipped its first LNG cargo, and after a two-year dispute with its customers, Venture Global LNG will begin commercial operations at its Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana on April 15, the company said on Monday.
Long-term customers including Shell and bp have been notified of the start of commercial operations, the company said.
Venture Global's failure to move to commercial operations years after it started selling the superchilled gas on the spot market led to contract arbitration cases brought by some of the world's top oil and gas producers, including BP, Shell, Edison, Orlen and Repsol. The companies were not immediately available for comment.
The facility will start commercial operations in under 68 months from being given the financial go ahead and despite substantial impacts of two hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and manufacturing issues, the company said.
"These efforts now allow us to supply our long-term customers with the full 20-year contract term of the lowest-cost, clean LNG as promised under our contracts," Venture Global said in a statement.
Venture Global recently became one of the most valuable U.S. LNG companies when it became a publicly traded company in January.
It told investors at that time that its strategy is to have extended commissioning periods so that it can maximize its profits through sales on the spot market at higher prices than it can get under long-term contracts.
(Reuters - Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Mark Porter and Chizu Nomiyama)