Venture Global to Establish Natural-Gas Export Facility in Louisiana

Natural gas exporter Venture Global LNG Inc. has announced that it will build a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas export facility in Louisiana amid a surge in US gas export demand in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The company announced on Wednesday that it had secured $13.2 billion in funding and granted final approval for the Plaquemines project near New Orleans.

This has been officially advanced since the Biden administration announced that the United States would increase its gas supply to Europe after Russia, which normally supplies more than 30% of Europe's supply, stopped supplying the region. It is also the first American LNG project to be carried out.

LNG prices in Europe and Asia hit record highs in the months before the war as countries competed for limited supply. However, the United States has already sent as much LNG as possible to Europe, and industry insiders say new import and export terminals will be needed to increase the volume.

In recent months, Venture Global has signed a contract with ExxonMobil's subsidiary New Fortress Energy and Malaysia's state-owned Petronas as part of the second phase of the Plaquemines project.