One company that will be benefiting is the newly listed Venture Global, which gained a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in late January, in a $1.75 billion Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the symbol “VG”. The company was valued at more than $60 billion when it began trading- though its valuation has pulled back to around $40 billion as the share price dipped during end January and into February.
Venture Global’s tagline- on the front page of its NYSE shares prospectus, is “Innovating to Provide Low-Cost LNG to the World”, so, not surprisingly, there is a shipping presence. The company’s first LNG carrier, The, 174,000 cu metre Venture Gator, had been launched in Summer, 2024, from Samsung’s Geoji-si yard. A sister, Venture Bayou, loaded the inaugural cargo from its second export facility, at Plaquemines, near Port Sulphur, Louisiana, in the waning days of 2024.
Four additional sister vessels are under construction at Korean yards, with three larger 200,000 cu metre ships also being built; deliveries are expected through end 2026. Additionally, VG has four vessels on charter. It has long term deals in place with receiving facilities- importantly, with regassification capabilities, in the UK - at Isle of Wight - and in Greece - at Alexandroupolis.
VG, has been exporting cargo from an existing LNG facility at the Calcasieu Pass near Lake Charles, with a nameplate capacity of 10 million tons per annum (mtpa) in Louisiana, for several years, with the new installation - the Plaquemines project - in the final stages of being commissioned.
Analyst Chris Robertson and his team at Deutsche Bank expressed the view that: “We believe that Venture Global is well positioned to take advantage of the changing regulatory landscape related to LNG project development and exports under the Trump administration.” They did acknowledge, however, that VG’s success would be tied to the vicissitudes of overall worldwide LNG trades.
The good news from Washington, D.C. for VG, which did lead to a bump up in the share price, is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) part of the US Department of Energy, has now given VG an authorisation to increase the peak production capacity of the new project- Plaquemines, up to 27.2 mtpa- upwardly amending a 2022 filing with FERC.
The Deutsche Bank analysts told investors: “In addition to the recent FERC approval to produce up to 27.2 mtpa, [VG] is seeking DOE approval to export up to the same amount to non-FTA nations. Based on the current policy tone set by the Trump administration with regards to US oil and gas development and exports, we believe the DOE will grant approval for the export authorisation increase in the coming months.” The “non-FTA” category includes big LNG offtakers including Japan and many European destinations.
