Venture Global starts preparing third phase of Plaquemines

• Venture Global is seeking approval to expand its Plaquemines LNG plant with a third phase.

• Executives provided updates on costs, timelines for the first two phases, and forecast 2025 adjusted core profits.

• Earnings report revealed fourth-quarter net profit of $990 million.

• The company exported fewer cargos in fourth-quarter 2024 compared with the previous year but expects substantial increase in 2025.

Venture Global Inc., Arlington, Va., has submitted a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand its Plaquemines LNG plant with a third phase that would add 24 liquefaction trains and 18 million tonnes/year of capacity.

The leaders of Venture Global said late last year that their teams had loaded the first cargo from the Plaquemines plant in Port Sulphur, La. (OGJ Online, Dec. 27, 2024). Construction work is ongoing at the complex’s first two phases—which will have nameplate capacity of 13.3 million tpy and 6.7 million tpy—and their commercial operation dates are expected to be late 2026 and mid-2027, respectively. Executives said 16 of the first phase’s 24 trains have produced LNG to date.

“This flexible incremental capacity would position us to respond rapidly to market growth signals,” chief executive officer Mike Sabel said on a Mar. 6 conference call discussing the company’s fourth-quarter results and 2025 outlook.

“In a capital-intensive commodity industry, capital will always flow to the most competitive projects and we believe that an expansion of Plaquemines is one of the most economically efficient opportunities available to quickly meet LNG demand.”

A final investment decision on Phase 3, which would cost about $18 billion, is expected in mid-2027. The first LNG would be produced roughly 18-24 months after that.

Sabel and his team also provided an update on the cost of building Plaquemines’ first two phases, saying they will likely cost $23.3-23.8 billion to complete. That’s a roughly $2 billion increase from the previous forecast and, at the midpoint, a jump of 9.5%. At end-2024, Venture Global had spent $19.8 billion of that figure.

In addition to the cost update, Sabel and his team also surprised investors by forecasting 2025 adjusted core profits of $6.8-7.4 billion. Analysts had expected more than $8.6 billion.

Those updates and the broader earnings report—which showed a fourth-quarter net profit of $990 million (helped by a big interest-rate swaps gain) on revenues of $1.5 billion—led investors to slash the value of Venture Global shares (Ticker: VG). In afternoon trading, they were down more than 30% to $9.72. They went public in late January at $25 apiece.

Venture Global exported 32 cargos in the fourth quarter, down from 40 in late 2023. For the full year, the company exported 140 cargos and executives are forecasting that number will grow past 350 this year. Of that total, Plaquemines will produce 219-239 cargos while the company’s Calcasieu project is forecast to export 140-148 cargos. Calcasieu’s expected commercial operation date is Apr. 15. (OGJ Online, Feb. 17, 2025).