Venture Global LNG has confirmed the addition of at least three LNG carrier newbuilding resales to its on-order vessels in a move that will increase the company’s fleet to nine ships.
The US producer said six of its newbuildings will have a cargo capacity of 174,000 cbm and three will deliver as 200,000-cbm vessels.
The vessels are being built with two-stroke ME-GA and ME-GI engines, shaft generators and air lubrication systems.
A first ship from the nine under-construction vessels will be handed over this year, the company said, without naming the shipyards except to say they are in South Korea.
Venture Global is listed on Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network as having five 200,000-cbm LNG newbuildings on order at Hanwha Ocean.
These vessels — the first three priced at $237m and the second pair at $250m — are scheduled for handover in late 2025 and 2026.
On 12 March, TradeWinds reported that Venture Global had been linked to the purchase of three 174,000-cbm LNG carrier newbuilding resales that were originally contracted by interests associated with investment bank JP Morgan.
Brokers said the resales were priced at around $270m each.
The three resales are understood to be due for delivery dates before the end of 2026.
The resales combined with the existing orders would give the company at least eight vessels. But the reports of nine ships in total and the discrepancy over the vessels’ sizing implies a more complex resale or newbuilding swap arrangement may have taken place, which has yet to be clarified.
In its Sunday statement, Venture Global chief executive Mike Sabel described the company’s new fleet as “world-class, next-generation LNG vessels” and said the acquisition further strengthens its “growing role as a major global energy provider”.
Sabel said: “This investment builds on our recent execution of a long-term terminal use agreement for regasification capacity at Europe’s largest LNG import terminal.” In February, Venture Global signed up for three million tonnes per annum of LNG storage and regasification capacity from 2029 at the UK’s Isle of Grain facility.
“This will be complementary to our core business as a supplier to long-term customers while also enabling optimisation and optionality by allowing for the transport of LNG directly to the customer’s point of need.
“We are sending a strong signal to the global market of our long-term commitment to meeting the world’s growing energy demand at a large scale, bolstering the security of our customers and allies by providing them with clean, affordable, and reliable US LNG as efficiently as possible.”
Venture Global, which is building a chain of liquefaction facilities on the US Gulf coast, is currently at the centre of a publicly played out row with its large LNG offtakers, like BP, Shell and Repsol, after it refused to start supply under their sales and purchase agreements until its first plant completes commissioning and achieves commercial operations.
The company’s 12-mtpa Calcasieu Pass LNG facility started exports at the end of February 2022 and has already shipped over 250 cargoes.
Venture Global has three more plants in the works — the under-construction Plaquemines LNG and planned CP2 LNG and Delta LNG — which could give it a total of 70 mtpa of LNG in the US.
