Venture Global CEO: Shell and BP’s actions ‘not sporting’
Venture Global’s chief executive has hit out at oil majors including BP and Shell for politicising a dispute over liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts.
Mike Sabel, chief executive of the LNG exporter, told the Financial Times that Venture Global “was a catastrophe” for European exporters such as BP and Shell.
Venture is a US-based LNG natural gas exporter that runs four projects in the country’s southern region around Louisiana and Texas.
The company, a self-styled ‘disruptor’ of hydrocarbons, has capitalised on Europe’s enforced shift away from Russia as a supply of energy to North America over the past two years.
But Shell and BP argue that they have longstanding contracts with the firm to receive LNG cargo, none of which has materialised because Venture claims the contracts are only activated when one of its projects, Calcasieu Pass, is declared finished.
The fossil fuel giants form part of a group that has sought intervention from Brussels and Washington saying that the supply delay could threaten Europe’s energy security.
“This is a reaction to this competitive threat and they — as in any market — need to figure out how to be competitive,” he said.
“First they ignore you — and we had many years of being ignored, then they ridicule you and call you all sorts of names and then, when they see you start to execute and have success, then they have to figure out how to slow you down – we’re at that stage.”
Shell has alleged Venture Global’s actions are a “wilful breach of contract” – a long-term LNG agreement -and have allowed the company to reap an $18bn windfall because of a surge in gas prices following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
According to financial analytics company Seeking Alpha, if Venture completes its Louisiana-based Plaquemines and Texas-based CP2 projects, the company would have an export capacity of more than 65m metric tons/year of gas, second globally only to the nation of Qatar.
“The sportsman’s response should be: You figure out how to compete better on price,” Sabel told the FT. “That’s the sporting way to do it. Not to say ‘you guys are violating contracts’ without giving evidence of contracts.”
Earlier this year, data analytics firm GlobalData claimed that within five years, there will be more tankers carrying LNG than oil.