US LNG developer Venture Global is asking federal regulators to re-examine whether shipments from its 12.4mn t/yr (1.65 Bcf/d) Calcasieu Pass export terminal would be disrupted by a competing project on the same Louisiana waterway.
Venture Global's concerns pertain to Kimmeridge's 9.5mn t/yr Commonwealth LNG terminal, which is located just across the Calcasieu Ship Channel in southwest Louisiana (see map) and is anticipated to reach a final investment decision (FID) later this year.
The ship channel, part of the port of Lake Charles, is becoming the US' LNG export hub, with the existing Calcasieu Pass and Cameron LNG terminals set to be joined by Commonwealth, Woodside's 16.5mn t/yr Louisiana LNG and Energy Transfer's 16.5mn t/yr Lake Charles LNG by 2031 (see table). Venture Global is also close to an FID on its 28mn t/yr CP2 facility adjacent to the Calcasieu Pass plant.
In a letter to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on 30 June, Venture Global requested FERC revisit Commonwealth's waterway suitability assessment, which analyzes if a waterway can safely handle increased traffic or requires a mitigation plan.
Under Commonwealth's original approval by the US Coast Guard in 2019, the terminal was told to reassess its impact on traffic once the Calcasieu Pass plant began operations. Calcasieu Pass LNG exported its first cargo on 1 March 2022, and Commonwealth updated its waterway assessment the following month.
Venture Global's lawyers argue that Commonwealth's waterway assessment is outdated because Calcasieu Pass did not begin commercial operations — the time at which a terminal begins delivering LNG to offtake customers — until April 2025. The company sold 444 cargoes totaling 28.2mn t of LNG on the spot market between March 2022 and April 2025, which is the subject of an arbitration case by Venture Global's customers, including Shell and BP, who argue it was unjustified in delaying deliveries.
In a response filed with FERC, Commonwealth's lawyers argued Calcasieu Pass has been operating at nameplate capacity since 2022 and therefore it does not need to update to its waterway assessment.
"Put simply, from a terminal operations perspective, nothing has changed" after Calcasieu Pass commenced commercial operations, Commonwealth's lawyers wrote.
Commonwealth's waterway assessment and approval by the Coast Guard were upheld in March 2025 and require no changes, it told Argus.
