Venture Global face arbitration over delayed LNG deliveries to Edison

US liquefied natural gas (LNG) firm Venture Global will not start delivering LNG to Italy’s Edison until April 2025 at the earliest, leading Edison to initiate international arbitration for breach of a 2017 contract.

Edision has been told that technical facilities at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana are the reason for the delays. However, it notes that Venture Global has already exported 355 cargos to the high-priced spot market and generated more than $20bn in revenues.

Read more: Venture Global launches the first on nine LNG vessels

As a consequence of Venture Global’s failure to commence deliveries, Edison has commenced international arbitration against Venture Global for breach of contract.

Edison signed a 20-yer LNG deal with Venture Global in 2017 to receive one million tonnes per annum of US LNG on a free-on-board basis for 20-years. It was agreed that delivery would start from the commercial operation date of the facility.

Venture Global started exporting LNG cargos in March 2022. The facility produced a nameplate capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum by September 2022 and reached substantial completion in November 2022.

In July 2023, Reuters reported that Shell and bp were separately filling for arbitration against Venture Global for failing to support cargoes. It is thought that other companies have also done similar.

Additionally, in December 2023, bp filled a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) against Venture Global for not being transparent about the status of the facility.

Read more: bp files FERC complaint against Venture Global’s LNG site

FERC requires LNG suppliers to disclose publicly the status of their export facilities to ensure transparency and fairness in the regulatory process.