The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has allowed Venture Global to raise the processing and export capacity of its latest LNG project, Plaquemines in Louisiana.   

The approval means that Venture Global is now allowed to increase the Plaquemines LNG capacity to 27.2 million metric tons per year, up from 24 million tons previously planned.  

Plaquemines LNG shipped its first commissioning cargo at the end of December, exporting LNG to Germany. The plant will be in a commissioning stage for at least another year, meaning that long-term customers would get their first cargoes in 2026 and 2027. 

While FERC acknowledged that greenhouse gas emissions from the project would increase, they would still remain at an acceptable level. 

“We acknowledge that, the project will increase the atmospheric concentration of GHGs (green house gases) and will contribute cumulatively to climate change, but we are unable to characterize these emissions as significant or insignificant,” FERC said in a statement carried by Reuters.

The Trump Administration is betting big on more LNG exports and President Donald Trump lifted on day one the pause on permitting new projects that was imposed by the Biden administration. 

Last month, Venture Global went public, raising $1.75 billion for a total valuation of $60 billion. 

Venture Global is a relative newcomer on the LNG stage but it has already earned a controversial reputation for not keeping its long-term contracts and instead selling all its LNG on the spot market to make more money. 

The company’s defense has been that its first LNG plant, Calcasieu Pass, was not really completed, which left it with a loophole to sell on the spot market but not make deliveries under long-term contracts.

Earlier this week, Venture Global said that it had notified its long-term customers that its Calcasieu Pass facility would commence commercial operations on April 15, 2025.  

By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

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