Venture Global wins arbitration case brought by Spain’s Repsol

By Francesca Landini, Curtis Williams and Arunima Kumar

HOUSTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Venture Global said on Wednesday an arbitration tribunal had ruled in its favor in a dispute with Spain’s Repsol over the U.S. supplier’s initial failure to deliver liquefied natural gas from its Calcasieu Pass project under a 20-year long-term contract.

The ruling contrasts with a decision on October 9 that saw BP prevail over Venture Global in a similar complaint brought at the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration.

It also means Venture Global has won two out of the three arbitrations brought against the second largest LNG exporter in the U.S., having first prevailed in an arbitration brought against it by energy major Shell.

Venture Global shares surged as much as 17% in post-market trading after the company disclosed the win in a regulatory filing. They had already risen nearly 7% in regular trading on Wednesday ahead of the announcement.

“We are pleased that another arbitral tribunal has ruled in Venture Global’s favor in the proceeding with Repsol,” Venture Global said in a statement.

Venture Global repeated its position that it has fully honored the terms of its long-term contracts and is confident it will win the remaining cases.

The arbitration panel awarded fees to Venture Global, according to a regulatory filing. Repsol was not immediately available for comment.

Shell, which lost an arbitration against Venture Global in August, has challenged that decision in the New York Supreme Court.

Other companies, including Italy’s Edison and Portugal’s Galp, have also filed claims against Venture Global that are still pending.

They accuse the U.S. supplier of profiting from selling LNG on the spot market – when prices surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – instead of delivering them the cargoes they had signed for years in advance.

Repsol and Galp used the same law firm in their arbitration cases against Venture Global, a source familiar with the cases told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Galp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Venture Global has denied the allegations, blaming what it said were delays in moving to commercial operations on a faulty electric system that prevented its Calcasieu Pass export facility in Louisiana from operating optimally.

Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, the company had lost around 62% of its market value since its IPO last year amid concerns about the legal troubles and a possible supply glut.

Repsol signed a purchase contract with Venture Global in 2018 to buy 1 million metric tons per year for 20 years.

Under a trade deal recently agreed between the European Union and U.S., Europe pledged to signs deals to buy $750 billion of American energy, including LNG, by 2028. 

(Reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan, Curtis Williams in Houston and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas, Nathan Crooks and David Gregorio)