Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG Sold More Than 500 Cargoes Before Its First Contracts Began
Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG started its first 20-year contracts on October 31, 2026, after selling more than 500 cargoes at market prices. Its first phase got there about 22 months after its first liquefied natural gas (LNG), against about 39 at the older Calcasieu Pass. From April to June 2026, the plant's operating profit about matched the whole company's.
The short answer. Plaquemines' first phase reached its contracts in a little more than half the time Calcasieu Pass took, after selling more than 500 cargoes at market prices. Its 24 production units now ship gas to long-term buyers in Europe and Asia, starting with Shell, on terms set years ago. Those terms include a fixed fee for turning gas into LNG. For its last unsold 2026 cargoes, Venture Global assumed in August a fee of $12.50 to $13.50 per unit of gas energy, in line with forward prices then. That is several times the fee Calcasieu Pass, its first plant, earns under contract. That plant's fee fell by about three quarters when it switched.
The wait, the cargoes and the change in fees
On this page
- What changed at Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG plant
- How long Plaquemines took compared with Calcasieu Pass
- How many cargoes Plaquemines sold before commercial operations
- How Venture Global's contract and market LNG prices differ
- What the switch means for Venture Global's profit
- Who won the Venture Global LNG arbitration cases
- Frequently asked questions
What changed at Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG plant
The plant makes the same gas as before. What changed is who gets it. Most of the first phase's gas now goes to buyers who signed 20-year deals, at the price those deals set.
Plaquemines sits in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. It chills natural gas until it turns into a liquid, called LNG, so ships can carry it overseas. The plant has 36 small production units, called trains, in two phases. Phase 1 holds 24 of them, according to the company's 2025 annual report.
On October 31, 2026, Phase 1 reached its commercial operations date, the day its long-term contracts begin. The company's release says the first cargo under those contracts left on November 1 at 3:26 AM, and it went to Shell.
Shell is one of five Phase 1 buyers the company named when it approved the project in May 2022. The others are Poland's PGNiG, China's Sinopec and CNOOC, and France's EDF. Phase 1's long-term contracts cover 13.0 million tonnes a year for 20 years.
Those buyers pay two things. One is a liquefaction fee, the charge for turning gas into LNG. The other is at least 115% of the Henry Hub price, the main U.S. gas price, which covers the gas itself. They owe the fee even if they cancel a cargo, the annual report says, and those contracts are what lenders financed the plant on.
Not all of the plant's gas moves to contracts. Phase 2 is still in testing, with a target of mid-2027.
| Before October 31 | From October 31 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who buys Phase 1 gas | Buyers of test cargoes, under short or medium term agreements. | Shell, Sinopec, CNOOC, EDF and PGNiG under long contracts. |
| How the Phase 1 price is set | Market prices at the time each sale was signed. | Fixed fee plus at least 115% of the U.S. Henry Hub gas price; delivery charges where applicable. |
| Phase 1 contract length | Short or medium term sales agreements. | 20 years for long contracts; a smaller portion under a three-year contract. |
How long Plaquemines took compared with Calcasieu Pass
From its first LNG to the start of the contracts, Plaquemines' first phase took about 22 months. Calcasieu Pass took about 39. The buyers at the newer plant waited a little more than half as long.
A new LNG plant starts making gas long before its contracts begin. In between it runs tests, fixes problems and sells what it makes as commissioning cargoes, or test cargoes.
Calcasieu Pass made its first LNG in January 2022 and began its contracts on April 15, 2025. When it set that date, the company said the plant had faced two hurricanes, the pandemic and manufacturing problems with parts of its power system. Plaquemines made its first LNG in December 2024, and its first phase began contracts on October 31, 2026.
The newer plant did this at a bigger size. Plaquemines' first phase alone is rated to make more LNG a year than all of Calcasieu Pass, according to the annual report.
The company itself measures speed from the day it decided to build. On that count Plaquemines' first phase took just over 53 months, its latest release says, against 68 months for Calcasieu Pass in its release.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Calcasieu Pass | 39 |
| Plaquemines | 22 |
How many cargoes Plaquemines sold before commercial operations
Plaquemines shipped 504 test cargoes from its first one in 2024 to the end of September 2026. Calcasieu Pass, half its size, had shipped about 412 by the end of March 2025.
Plaquemines shipped 504 cargoes through September 30, 2026, and the October count is not out yet. It shipped 87 in the July to September quarter alone, according to the company's October 7 filing. That count covers both phases, since the second one is still testing.
Calcasieu Pass shipped about 412 test cargoes through March 31, 2025, two weeks before its contracts began. By September 2024 the cargoes shipped until then had brought in about $19.6 billion before the cost of the gas, the company's stock market listing document says.
So Plaquemines passed its older sister's count in about half the time. It is the bigger plant, rated at 20 million tonnes a year in all against Calcasieu Pass's 10 million.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | 1 |
| Q1 2025 | 29 |
| Q2 2025 | 51 |
| Q3 2025 | 64 |
| Q4 2025 | 90 |
| Q1 2026 | 92 |
| Q2 2026 | 90 |
| Q3 2026 | 87 |
How Venture Global's contract and market LNG prices differ
Contract buyers pay a set fee on top of the U.S. gas price. Test cargoes are sold at market prices when each sale is signed. At Calcasieu Pass, the fee fell by about three quarters when its contracts began.
Test cargoes follow the same two-part shape, but the fee is whatever the market supports when the deal is signed. So it runs high when world gas is expensive. At Calcasieu Pass the liquefaction fee was $8.80 per MMBtu, a standard unit of gas energy, in the first three months of 2025, before its contracts. In the July to September quarter, its first full one under contract, the fee was $1.97, the company's filing shows.
In that same quarter Plaquemines, still selling test cargoes, earned a fee of $6.79. For an average-sized Plaquemines cargo, the two plants' fees differed by about $18 million.
Venture Global has not published the fees in Plaquemines' own contracts. It did say what it expected for spare cargoes. In August 2026 it assumed a fee of $12.50 to $13.50 for its unsold 2026 cargoes, "in line with current forward curves," meaning the prices traders were then paying for gas to be delivered later. By then it had already agreed sales for 91% of its 2026 cargoes, at an average fee of $5.05, so the higher assumed fee covered only the rest.
Reuters reported on March 9, 2026 that Venture Global had told its Phase 1 buyers it would start their deliveries on October 31 even though gas prices had surged. Reuters tied that surge to the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. So the contracts began in a year when gas on the open market had been expensive.
Show the data
| Category | Calcasieu Pass | Plaquemines | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | $8.80 | $7.26 | |
| Q2 2025 | $2.66 | $7.09 | Calcasieu Pass contracts start April 15 |
| Q3 2025 | $1.97 | $6.79 | |
| Q4 2025 | $2.01 | $6.02 |
Source: Venture Global quarterly cargo reports (Form 8-K) for 2025. For the fourth quarter the company gives implied fees, an average worked out from what it sold. Calcasieu Pass's $2.01 also reflects estimated arbitration reserves, money set aside for buyer cases it may lose.
What the switch means for Venture Global's profit
Plaquemines has carried the company's profit while it sold test cargoes. From April to June 2026 it had $2.2 billion of operating profit, while Calcasieu Pass, under contract, had $67 million.
Venture Global splits its results by plant. Operating profit, which the company calls income from operations, is the profit from running the business before interest and taxes. In the April to June quarter of 2026, Plaquemines had $2,212 million of it, according to the quarterly report for that quarter. That is about as much as the whole company made, since its other parts lost a little in total.
Calcasieu Pass shows the other side. It had $67 million of operating profit in the same quarter. Lower fees after its move to long-term contracts cut its revenue, the money it took in from sales, by $114 million from a year earlier, the report says. Calcasieu Pass began its contracts on April 15, 2025. So most of that earlier quarter was already under contract, and the fall shows only part of what the switch did.
Show the data
| Operating profit, April to June | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Plaquemines | $2,212 million | $921 million |
| Calcasieu Pass | $67 million | $183 million |
| Whole company | $2,188 million | $1,038 million |
| Calcasieu Pass, change from April to June 2025 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Revenue lost to lower fees after the contracts began | $114 million |
| Revenue lost to a lower Henry Hub gas price | $86 million |
| Revenue lost to lower volumes | $18 million |
| Total fall in revenue | $218 million |
| Fall in operating profit, after lower gas costs and other items | $116 million |
Source: Venture Global quarterly report for June 30, 2026 (Form 10-Q), segment results.
So in that quarter the company's profit rested on a plant still selling test cargoes. That plant's first phase has now moved to contract fees, while Phase 2 keeps selling test cargoes until its mid-2027 target.
Who won the Venture Global LNG arbitration cases
Several Calcasieu Pass buyers took Venture Global to arbitration, a private legal case decided by a panel called a tribunal, saying their contracts started too late. Tribunals sided with the company twice and with buyers twice, and two cases were settled.
The buyers argued that Calcasieu Pass "was delayed in achieving COD," the company's term for the contract start, according to its annual report. In August 2025 a tribunal found no breach in Shell's case. In January 2026 a tribunal denied all of Repsol's claims.
BP's case went the other way. In October 2025 a tribunal found that Venture Global had breached its duty to declare the start in time. A hearing on damages is set for May 2027, and BP is seeking $3.7 billion to more than $6.0 billion, the company's quarterly report says. Edison settled in March 2026, and a buyer on a shorter contract settled in September 2025.
In October 2026 a tribunal ruled for Galp on the same question, the company said in a filing. The company says the final award will be capped at $170 million, and that it will "continue to vigorously defend its position." One more buyer's case is still open.
So two tribunals have now found that the first plant took too long to declare its contract start, and the money owed is still to be set. Plaquemines' first phase has now ended that same wait in a little more than half the time.
- Venture Global won Shell, August 2025; Repsol, January 2026.
- Buyer won, damages not yet set BP, October 2025, damages hearing set for May 2027; Galp, October 2026, which the company says is capped at $170 million.
- Settled Edison, March 2026; a buyer on a shorter contract, September 2025.
- Still open One other long-term buyer, per the company's quarterly report.
What to watch
- How many cargoes Plaquemines shipped in October, before the switch: the company's next quarterly cargo update, which for the last quarter of 2025 came on January 12, 2026.
- Whether Venture Global changes its 2026 forecast after the switch: its third quarter results, due before the market opens on November 10, 2026.
- When Plaquemines Phase 2 starts its contracts: the company's target is mid-2027, in its quarterly filings.
- The damages in BP's Calcasieu Pass case: a hearing scheduled for May 2027, per the company's quarterly report.
- The damages in Galp's case and the last open buyer case: the company's quarterly filings, with Galp's hearing expected in 2027 or 2028.
Our numbers
These figures are our calculations from the sources linked in this article. The cargo counts are shipments as the company reports them each quarter, and the 22 months cover Plaquemines' first phase, the part that has started its contracts.
- About 22 and about 39 months: the months from each plant's first LNG (December 2024 and January 2022) to its contract start (October 2026 and April 2025).
- 504 Plaquemines cargoes: one in 2024, 234 in 2025 and 269 in the first nine months of 2026, from the company's quarterly filings.
- About 412 Calcasieu Pass cargoes: 342 through September 2024 from the listing document, plus 36 in the last quarter of 2024 and 34 in the first quarter of 2025.
- About half the time: Plaquemines' running total passed 412 cargoes from April to June 2026, about 16 to 18 months after its first LNG, against about 38 to 39 months for Calcasieu Pass.
- A fall of about three quarters: the Calcasieu Pass fee went from $8.80 to $1.97 per MMBtu, a drop of 78%.
- About $18 million: the $4.82 fee gap between the two plants from July to September 2025, times 3.73 million MMBtu, the average Plaquemines cargo then.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG plant?
Plaquemines LNG is in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. It is Venture Global's second LNG export plant, after Calcasieu Pass, which is also in Louisiana.
Is Venture Global publicly traded?
Yes. Venture Global trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VG. It listed in January 2025, selling 70 million shares at $25 each, according to its 2025 annual report.
Who buys LNG from Plaquemines?
Phase 1's long-term buyers include Shell, Poland's PGNiG, China's Sinopec and CNOOC, and France's EDF, the company said in 2022. At that time the Phase 2 buyers included ExxonMobil, Petronas and New Fortress Energy.
Why did Venture Global ship LNG before its contracts began?
A new plant makes gas for months while it is tested and fixed. Venture Global sells that output as commissioning cargoes at market prices, and stops once a phase reaches its contract start.
When will Plaquemines Phase 2 start commercial operations?
Venture Global targets mid-2027 for Phase 2, according to its latest quarterly results. Until then, Phase 2's gas keeps selling as commissioning cargoes.
Where can I see Venture Global (VG) stock news?
The Venture Global stock page on StockTitan shows the price and the company's releases, including the Plaquemines announcement. The stock return calculator shows how the shares have done since a date you choose.
Sources
- Venture Global (VG) stock page, StockTitan
- Venture Global Commences Commercial Operations of Phase One of Plaquemines LNG, November 1, 2026
- Venture Global Commences Commercial Operations at Calcasieu Pass, April 15, 2025
- Venture Global Announces Commencement of Commercial Operations at Calcasieu Pass, February 17, 2025
- Reuters, March 9, 2026, on Venture Global's letter to Plaquemines Phase 1 buyers (named in the text, not linked)
- Venture Global 2025 annual report (Form 10-K)
- Venture Global quarterly report for June 30, 2026 (Form 10-Q)
- Venture Global second quarter 2026 results
- Venture Global third quarter 2026 cargo update (Form 8-K)
- Venture Global third quarter 2025 cargo update (Form 8-K)
- Venture Global first quarter 2025 cargo update (Form 8-K)
- Venture Global Galp arbitration award (Form 8-K)
- Venture Global IPO prospectus, January 2025
- Venture Global, Plaquemines LNG final investment decision, May 25, 2022
- Venture Global, Plaquemines LNG first LNG production, December 14, 2024
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