HOUSTON: BP, Edison and Shell pressed a US-European Union (EU) energy group to intervene in a dispute with liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter Venture Global LNG over the US firm’s failure to deliver contract supplies of the fuel.

The companies appealed to the US-EU Task Force on Energy Security last month, and a Shell executive urged them to require Venture Global LNG to “immediately begin to perform” under their signed contracts.

The three are among at least four customers of the Arlington, Virginia, firm pursuing contract arbitration claims over a lack of gas supplies. Venture Global LNG has said the Louisiana plant is not fully operational due to faulty power equipment that is being repaired.

Their appeals sought to get The Hague and Washington to pressure Venture Global LNG on the contracts. In its letter, Shell accused Venture Global LNG of diverting resources into building a second LNG export plant rather than completing repairs to its first plant.

The behaviour “has shaken confidence in the trustworthiness of American LNG suppliers,” BP executive Carol Howe wrote in a separate letter.

Officials from the European Union and United States. indicated they view the dispute as “a contractual matter between commercial parties,” a Venture Global LNG spokesperson said last Saturday. No action was taken on Shell’s request at an Oct 30 task force meeting.

A Shell spokesman said last Saturday it was not expecting an immediate reaction by the task force, and wanted to bring a potential loss of trust in US LNG to officials’ attention.

BP declined comment apart from its letter. Utility giant Edison did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the weekend.

Venture Global LNG is operating the Calcasieu Pass plant at capacity, it has told US regulators. And it has sold more than 200 cargoes worth about US$18.2bil to date, according to a Reuters tally. Those sales reaped higher prices than would be available under the four firms’ long-term contracts.

Shell and others claim the firm has profited from the rally in global gas markets while short-changing Europe’s energy security. They have been told they will not receive their contracted amounts until late 2024.

BP and Shell have bought gas from the plant and sold it outside of Europe while citing Europe’s energy security in letters to the US-EU task force, Venture Global LNG said.

The company is “diligently working toward full completion.” It did not say when full commercial operation would begin.

“Shell has purchased seven commissioning cargoes from Venture Global and three of them were traded outside of Europe for higher profits.

Similarly, BP has purchased six commissioning cargos, and two have been traded to destinations outside of Europe,” according to a Nov 10 letter signed by Venture Global co-chairmen Michael Sabel and Robert Pender.

The appeal to the US-EU task force also follows Repsol’s bid to have the US energy regulator Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reopen its approval of the Calcasieu plant in view of the startup problems. That request was rejected. — Reuters