Venture Global Wins LNG Arbitration Case Against Repsol

Venture Global Inc. won a dispute with Spain’s Repsol SA involving the sale of liquefied natural gas cargoes from its export plant in Louisiana.

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An arbitration tribunal found Venture Global acted as a “reasonable and prudent operator,” the company said in a filing Wednesday. The tribunal also awarded fees to Venture Global.

Venture Global lost a similar arbitration fight in October with BP Plc, which is seeking more than $1 billion in damages. The company prevailed in a case against Shell that was decided in August.

“Multiple proceedings have now affirmed what we have stated from the outset: Venture Global has fully honored the clear and mutually agreed-upon terms of our long-term contracts without exception,” a Venture Global spokeswoman said in a statement. “We believe the remaining cases should reach the same conclusion.”

The company’s shares jumped as much as 4.2% after disclosing it had prevailed in the case.

BP, Shell and other long-term contract holders lodged arbitration claims against Venture Global after its Calcasieu Pass LNG complex on the US Gulf Coast shipping fuel in 2022. Instead of sending cargoes to those customers, Venture Global sold them directly into the spot market, where prices were higher.

Venture Global has argued its contracts permitted it to sell LNG into the spot market before the plant was fully operational and still in its “commissioning phase.” It nonetheless outraged companies that had signed 20-year deals.

Other arbitration cases against Venture Global were filed by Polish utility Orlen SA, Portugal’s Galp Energia SGPS SA, Edison International and China’s Sinopec. The initial claims against the company totaled about $6 billion.

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The arbitration cases lent uncertainty to Venture Global’s initial public offering in January. It was the worst-performing major energy market debut in at least the last three decades.