Venture Global gets arbitrator’s nod in Repsol dispute
An arbitrator has ruled in favor of Venture Global Inc. in the liquefied natural gas company’s dispute with Repsol LNG Holding SA over its decision to delay the commercial operations date for its 10-million tonne/year Calcasieu Pass LNG plant.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, executives of Virginia-based Venture Global said the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration body has found that the company acted as a “reasonable and prudent operator” and hadn’t breached the terms of its contract with Spain’s Repsol. The companies’ tussle centers on Venture Global’s decision earlier this decade to—citing problems with some Calcasieu Pass equipment as well as the plant’s power infrastructure—hold off on declaring COD but still export some cargoes during the commissioning phase at spot rates in early 2022.
“The company is pleased that another arbitral tribunal has ruled in [Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LLC]’s favor in the proceeding with Repsol,” Venture Global’s SEC filing reads. “Multiple proceedings have now affirmed what the company has stated from the outset: VGCP has fully honored the clear and mutually agreed-upon terms of its long-term contracts without exception.”
Repsol and other big energy names—Shell, bp and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. among them—had claimed Venture Global was profiteering from high spot rates rather than meeting its contracts with them and took their cases to the International Chamber of Commerce, claiming damages that could have topped $7 billion.
The ICC’s arbitrators also have sided with Venture Global in Shell’s case but last October ruled in favor of bp, whose executives’ claim of damages of at least $1 billion is expected to be adjudicated this year. Venture Global—whose leaders declared COD for Calcasieu Pass last April—nearly four months settled its dispute with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.
Shares of Venture Global (Ticker: VG) were up nearly 7% to about $9.70 on the morning of Jan. 22. Over the past 6 months, however, they are still down about 35%, a slide that has cut the company’s market capitalization to about $24 billion.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has more than two decades of business journalism experience and writes about markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications Healthcare Innovation, IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal and T&D World. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati and later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal. Most recently, he oversaw the online and print products of the Nashville Post and reported primarily on Middle Tennessee’s finance sector as well as many of its publicly traded companies.