Shell Starts Liquefied Natural Gas Arbitration Hearings With Venture Global

Shell is starting arbitration hearings over the supply of liquefied natural gas from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said recently.  According Reuters, Shell and other companies including BP, Galp and Repsol have launched contract arbitration cases in the United States over inability to obtain contract cargoes for more than two years.

“Frustratingly, we have got no volumes against our term agreement which underpinned the financing for the project. We’re going through arbitration hearings this quarter,” Sawan said on a call with reuters analysts.

Shell and others say they have lost billions of dollars in profit from gas promised under long-term contracts but it was not delivered. Venture Global LNG contends it has not fully commissioned the Louisiana plant. Previously, Venture Global LNG had criticised Shell for its poor performance record at its own LNG facilities.

Many industry observers see this accusation by Venture Global as reminiscent of the legal issues faced by NLNG ,a Shell Subsidiary, where it was found that the company had breached a contract by failing to deliver at least 19 cargoes of LNG, under a contract signed in January 2020.

This led to a London arbitration panel and an England and Wales High Court of Justice ruling against NLNG. The arbitration panel included John Beechey CBE, J. William Rowley KC, and Nevil Phillips.  Shell accuses Venture Global LNG of wrongfully earning $3.5 billion, according to an earlier report by the Financial Times.

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