Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass export facility has been
producing and selling LNG for more than 20 months while telling Shell, BP and
others it cannot provide them with term-contract cargoes while the plant is
undergoing a commissioning phase. The customers have complained that this lack
of access has cost them billions of dollars in lost sales.
Shell filed a letter on Tuesday to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) in support of BP. The letter called on the U.S.
regulator to force Venture Global LNG to release plant commissioning data to
determine why commercial operations are stalled.
The two energy giants are among a group that includes Edison
SpA (EDNn.MI), Polish state energy firm Orlen and Spain's Repsol (REP.MC) that
have filed contract arbitration claims on the lack of LNG cargoes provided
under their contracts.
"Venture Global's unprecedented and inexplicable
process for purported commissioning that has so far been shielded from public
view fails to follow Commission regulations regarding requests for privileged
treatment of documents," Shell said.
The letter reflects both the weak legal position that the
two energy giants hold, a Venture Global LNG spokesperson said, and their
efforts to pull regulators in the U.S. and Europe in a contract dispute.
"This unseemly behavior reflects BP and Shell’s
increasing lack of confidence in their contractual positions, and their
complete disrespect for the U.S. regulatory process," said spokesperson
Shaylyn Hynes.
Shell wants an order for blanket disclosure of privileged
documents, or an acceptable level of unilateral redaction of documents, the
FERC filing shows.
Venture Global LNG has become a major U.S. exporter of the superchilled gas since it started processing at its Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, plant early in 2022. It has sold more than 200 cargoes of the gas under its own accounts without supplying BP and other long-term contract customers. Reuters
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