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Portuguese energy group Galp has asked US regulators to allow it to join BP and Shell in a complaint against a liquefied natural gas exporter that the companies say is costing them billions of dollars in lost revenues.
The spat between Venture Global of the US, which the oil groups accuse of refusing to honour multibillion-dollar supply contracts, has caused a major disruption in the market for the super chilled fuel.
Galp’s participation marks another escalation in a row that has run for nearly a year in a market that has grown in importance since the Ukraine war as Europe has sought to replace gas from Russia through pipelines.
Galp, in a filing made on Tuesday, is looking to join in with the complaints filed by BP and Shell to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc).
The majors are seeking to obtain information that has kept Venture Global from declaring its plant as a commercial operation that will allow the LNG producer to start supplying customers.
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG plant, located on the Gulf coast in Louisiana, started producing LNG in January 2022 and exported its first cargo two months later.
But the company argues it has not yet achieved full commercial operations and is not obliged to supply foundation customers, which include BP, Shell and Galp, until the commissioning is completed.
Venture Global has shipped more than 200 cargoes since its first export, with the majors claiming it has made an $18bn windfall because of a spike in gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Galp had signed a supply contract with Venture Global in 2018 as one of the foundation customers for the Calcasieu Pass plant.
“As a customer, Galp . . . will be directly affected by the outcome of this proceeding, and no other party can adequately represent or protect its interests,” it said in its filing to Ferc.
Venture Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But in a filing to Ferc made in early January after BP’s complaint, the LNG producer said the claims “are baseless and demonstrably false”, adding it was “calculated to try to discredit” Venture Global.
The group’s chief executive Mike Sabel told the Financial Times in December that the company was a “catastrophe” for the majors.
“This is a reaction to this competitive threat and they — as in any market — need to figure out how to be competitive.”
Shell and BP have asked Washington and Brussels to intervene in the dispute. Other customers embroiled in the dispute include Spain’s Repsol and Italy’s Edison.
The long term supply contracts signed with the energy companies are crucial for attracting financing for the building of the LNG project.
