Venture Global seeks vessels to pick up LNG from Calcasieu, La.

U.S. LNG company Venture Global LNG put out a tender seeking vessels that could pick up commissioning or test cargoes from its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant, which is under construction, sources familiar with the tender said.

The tender seeks vessels as soon as October, but sources say they still do not expect the first train at Calcasieu to produce first LNG until December.

That, however, is way ahead of the autumn 2022 commissioning date Venture Global has posted on its website. LNG plants usually start producing test or commissioning cargoes about three months before they officially enter service or are commissioned.

The sources said part of the reason the tender had an October date is because it gives Venture Global a wide 60-day window to tell the winning bidder to pick up the argo.

So if Venture Global expects the first train to enter service in December, they could notify the winning bidder in October to start lining up a ship.

If the plant enters service so far ahead of its autumn 2022 schedule, sources said it would show that modular construction really can save time and money.

Calcasieu is expected to produce about 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) or 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. Analysts estimate the plant will cost about $4.5 billion.

In addition to Calcasieu, Venture Global developing over 50 MTPA of LNG production capacity in Louisiana, including two 10-MTPA phases at Plaquemines, two 10-MTPA phases at Delta and two 10-MTPA phases at CP2 next to the Calcasieu site.

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