Calcasieu Pass LNG starts commercial operations, three years after beginning exports

US LNG exporter Venture Global declared the start of commercial operations April 15 at its Calcasieu Pass terminal in Louisiana, a designation that means the company will begin contracted deliveries to long-term offtakers nearly three years after the facility began exporting cargoes.

The development marked the end of the longest-ever commissioning period for a US LNG facility, even as a long-running contract dispute continues between the exporter and the six foundational customers whose long-term purchase commitments made the $10 billion Calcasieu Pass project possible.

But the customers -- Shell, BP, Spain's Repsol, Italy's Edison, Portugal's Galp and Poland's PKN Orlen -- finally stand to receive volumes from the facility under their sale and purchase agreements, which carry some of the lowest-fixed fees among US exporters. Venture Global touted the SPAs at Calcasieu Pass in an April 15 statement as "among the most attractive price points for customers in the world, with average liquefaction fees under $2/MMBtu."

"Its long-term customers will benefit from low-cost North American LNG for the full duration of their 20-year contracts," Venture Global said in a statement.

A Shell spokesperson said it expects to load its first cargo from Calcasieu Pass around the end of April, declining further comment.

The foundation customers at the nameplate 10 million mt/year Calcasieu Pass project have accused Venture Global of holding back on servicing their long-term contracts so it could sell cargoes for higher prices on the spot market.

Venture Global exported the first LNG cargo at Calcasieu Pass in March 2022, coming online as delivered LNG prices to Europe were about to reach record highs. The operator has loaded more than 440 cargoes since then, with most going to Europe, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed April 15.

Venture Global, which went public earlier this year, in March reported over $19 billion in LNG revenue from 2022 through 2024.

But the company has maintained it has honored its contractual obligations, attributing the extended commissioning to reliability challenges with power generation facilities and a novel design and development approach that enabled Venture Global to bring Calcasieu Pass online years faster than it has historically taken to build a major US liquefaction facility.

Venture Global had also issued a force majeure to long-term customers extending the commercial operations date at Calcasieu Pass because of challenges with equipment reliability, which the customers have disputed.

"Having completed a multiyear rectification and remediation of key components of the facility that underpin the redundancy features inherent in the project's design, Calcasieu Pass is now ready to operate safely and reliably," Venture Global said in the statement.

All six of the foundation customers have brought arbitration proceedings against the developer, which are ongoing. So has a medium-term customer.

Venture Global did not respond to questions April 15, including which customer will receive the first cargo.

Repsol declined to comment, citing the ongoing arbitration proceedings.

The remaining offtakers did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment April 15.

Venture Global is facing arbitration claims in excess of $7 billion, according to a March 6 filing by the company at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said in the filing that no Calcasieu Pass customers have sought to terminate their SPAs tied to the facility as a remedy in the arbitration but that two unspecified offtakers have notified the collateral agent for the project financing that termination of their SPAs could occur.

Venture Global's second LNG terminal, the nameplate 20 million mt/year Plaquemines terminal also in Louisiana, began producing and exporting LNG in December 2024. Production from the facility has come online rapidly. Plaquemines was scheduled to receive about 2.2 Bcf/d of feedgas on April 15, Commodity Insights data showed.

The developer said in March it plans to begin commercial operations at Plaquemines in the fourth quarter of 2026, marking a one-quarter delay from the target it provided at the beginning of the year.

Venture Global has said it is targeting a final investment decision on its third LNG project, the proposed CP2 export facility in Louisiana, which would also have a nameplate capacity of 20 million mt/year.