Venture Global begins commercial operations at Calcasieu Pass

Updated Apr. 15, 11:34 am CDT, to include Shell plc comment about ongoing arbitration with Venture Global over long-term contract. 

Venture Global LNG has started commercial operations at its 10-million tonne/year (tpy) Calcasieu Pass LNG plant in Cameron Parish, La., and with startup, has commenced the sale of US LNG to its long-term customers. 

The move comes about 68 months from its final investment decision and 38 months after production start (OGJ Online, Aug. 21, 2019; Feb. 7, 2022).

The project, consisting of mid-scale, modular liquefaction trains and process infrastructure, began exporting cargoes in March 2022 and was producing at capacity by September that same year, but contracted deliveries had not been delivered to certain long-term customers due to what Venture Global called technical problems at the plant (OGJ Online, Feb. 17, 2025).

In a release Apr. 15, Venture Global said the company has overcome "significant unforeseen challenges, including a global pandemic, two hurricanes, and a force majeure event that arose due to major manufacturing issues with the facility's power island." 

Continuing, the company said the plant has undergone "a multi-year rectification and remediation of key components of the facility that underpin the redundancy features inherent in the project’s design," and that "Calcasieu Pass is now ready to operate safely and reliably."

In February, Venture Global completed repair work on the final heat recovery steam generator in its power island and in early March it completed the final work on the third pre-treatment train, the company noted in its fourth-quarter 2024 report dated Mar 6, 2025. 

Arbitration ongoing 

In its Apr. 15 release, the company did not disclose what impact the start of the commercial operations and sale to long-term customers would have on arbitration cases against it by contract customers (OGJ Online, Oct. 16, 2024). 

In its fouth-quarter earnings presentation, in noting the then-anticipated commercial operations start at Calcasieu Pass of Apr. 15, the company said the various customer arbitrations were "ongoing, and the first few to proceed are not likely to be resolved until after this year."

In an emailed statment to Oil & Gas Journal Apr. 15, a Shell spokesperson said the company expects to load its first cargo from Calcasieu "around the end of April." As for arbitration, the company had no further comment other than "arbitration is ongoing."