Repsol SA continues to push U.S. regulators for access to confidential documents filed by Venture Global LNG Inc. detailing the prolonged commissioning process at the Calcasieu Pass export terminal that has delayed commercial operations and the delivery of cargoes under long-term contracts.
In April, Madrid-based Repsol filed a motion to participate in FERC’s ongoing oversight of the project, but was ultimately denied access. The company argued against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s denial in a request for rehearing last week. Repsol holds a 20-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for 1 million metric tons/year (mmty) from the Louisiana terminal.
"Granting the motion would allow Repsol access to critical filings regarding commissioning and construction that Venture Global has filed as privileged,” Repsol said in its recently published appeal. As a long-term customer, Repsol wants to “assess whether Venture Global is complying” with FERC's authorization of the project "and making accurate representations to the Commission” about its status.
Calcasieu Pass loaded its first commissioning cargo in February 2022, but has yet to declare that the facility is complete and commercially operable, which would require it to begin supplying cargoes to its long-term offtakers.
Since then, Kpler vessel-tracking data shows that Venture Global has sold 171 cargoes from the terminal into the spot market, where prices have at times been far higher than those it would otherwise earn under its SPAs.
A vessel was also berthed at the facility on Wednesday and another was scheduled to arrive June 12, according to Kpler.
Conventional liquefied natural gas plants generally take a matter of months to commission, but the 10 mmty Calcasieu Pass terminal uses modular technology that’s designed to commission its smaller 18 liquefaction trains in phases. Venture Global warned of commercial operation delays in a letter to FERC earlier this year, citing ongoing reliability challenges with the newer technology.
In its response to the motion, Venture Global said Repsol’s concerns are “manufactured and unsubstantiated.” It also said suggestions that its communications with regulators have been inaccurate are “false and misleading.”
FERC denied Repsol’s motion earlier this year largely on the basis that the purpose of intervening in a commission proceeding is narrowed to filing a request for rehearing of a final order and seeking judicial review.
Repsol stressed in last week’s appeal that it's not planning to challenge the Commission’s 2019 authorization of Calcasieu Pass in court. The company said it wants to intervene to determine how FERC’s “ongoing supervision” of the project “is being carried out.”
The company argued that there is a lack of transparency in how Venture Global is advancing the commissioning process. Repsol’s filings have brought into plain view via the U.S. regulatory process speculation that’s swirled behind the scenes in the market around prolonged facility testing and consternation among some of the project's offtakers over the delays.
Issues at the plant and its sales into the short-term market have come over a period in which spot prices have hit record highs and the market has been tight since war broke out in Ukraine.
“As always, Venture Global complies with all federal regulations and we are transparent with our regulators, without exception. This is no different,” spokesperson Shaylyn Hynes told NGI.
In its letter to the Commission earlier this year, Venture Global said the facility experienced failures at the power island and heat steam recovery generator that were partly traced to weld leaks. The problems required an investigation by equipment supplier General Electric Co. Venture Global said at the time that commissioning would continue while General Electric made the necessary repairs.
