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Sawan was asked during Shell’s Capital Markets Day in New York on Tuesday whether Shell can give any guidance on the dispute with Venture Global and when the arbitration may yield a result.
“We continue to hold on to our position,” he said.
Sawan said Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG plant in Lousiana has already delivered “400 plus cargoes,” and the facility is “running at or above nameplate capacity.”
He noted that the “foundation buyers who created the bankability for that venture are not yet getting any cargoes.”
“The legal process is ongoing. We hope to be able to have some readout from the arbitration in the coming months. So hopefully this year, and then we’ll see where that goes,” he said.
BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss recently also said the BP expects a ruling on the arbitration dispute Venture Global to be delivered in the second half of this year.
BP has a 20-year LNG contract for volumes for the Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana, the same as Shell.
The two firms and other Calcasieu Pass customers are in a dispute with Venture Global over the launch of commercial operations at the facility, and they previously launched arbitration proceedings against Venture Global.
Besides Shell and BP, customers of the Calcasieu pass facility include Repsol, Edison, Galp, PGNiG, now part of Orlen, Sinopec’s unit Unipec, and CNOOC.
Calcasieu Pass produced its first LNG on January 19, 2022, moving from FID to LNG production in 29 months, and the first commissioning cargo left the facility on March 1, 2022.
However, Venture Global has not yet declared commercial operations at the facility.
The 10 mtpa Calcasieu Pass facility consists of 18 modular units configured in 9 blocks.
Commercial ops in April
This week, Venture Global filed a request seeking approval from the US FERC to launch operations of its entire Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal.
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass requests authorization to place in-service the remainder of the facilities for the project, and the TransCameron pipeline project, according to a filing dated March 25.
These include the power island, pre-treatment, LNG storage, boil-off gas (BOG), and marine facilities.
“With this submittal, Calcasieu Pass believes it has filed all required documentation demonstrating readiness to commence service of the remainder of the facility, as requested herein,” it said.
In February, Venture Global said it expects to launch commercial operations at its Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana in April, some 68 months from its final investment decision and 38 months after production start.
Venture Global announced that it has notified its long-term customers that its Calcasieu Pass facility will start commercial operations on April 15, 2025.
“The facility will achieve its commercial operation date, or COD, in under 68 months from its August 2019 final investment decision, despite substantial impacts including two hurricanes, the Covid-19 pandemic, and major unforeseen manufacturing issues, such as with the heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) forming part of the facility’s power island,” the company said.