Venture Global has unveiled plans to expand its Plaquemines liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility south of New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
The expansion will add 24 trains with an additional investment of approximately $18bn. This will bring Venture Global's total investment in its US projects to more than $75bn.
The Plaquemines LNG facility, which received approval during President Trump's first term, is the most recent LNG export facility to begin operations in the US. It commenced LNG production in December 2024.
With the expansion, Venture Global plans to increase the facility's anticipated total production capacity from 27 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to more than 45mtpa.
The expansion of Plaquemines LNG is set to support hundreds of new permanent jobs in Louisiana, along with tens of thousands of indirect and part-time roles across more than 30 states. At peak construction, the project will create thousands of direct construction jobs.
Venture Global anticipates making a final investment decision on the expansion following first production at the Calcasieu Pass 2 facility.
Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said: “Our planned expansion of Plaquemines will make it the largest LNG export facility built in North America, supplying LNG to our allies while making a substantial impact on the US balance of trade.
“We believe this flexible incremental capacity will position us to respond rapidly to market growth signals. In a capital-intensive commodity industry, capital will always flow to the most competitive projects, and we believe that an expansion of Plaquemines is one of the most economically efficient opportunities available to quickly meet growing LNG demand.
“We are grateful for the Trump Administration’s commitment to building out our nation’s critical energy infrastructure. We believe this will be the best regulatory environment in decades.”
Venture Global has raised its construction cost estimates for the Plaquemines LNG plant. The cost is now projected to be between $23.3bn and $23.8bn, an increase from the previous $21bn–22bn estimate, reported Reuters.
Last month, US federal regulators authorised Venture Global to increase the export capacity of the Plaquemines plant to 27.2mtpa from 24mtpa.
This capacity boost comes amidst contract disputes with customers such as bp, Shell and Edison concerning the non-receipt of cargoes due to an extended testing and optimisation process.
Venture Global also reported a 6.6% drop in fourth-quarter 2024 revenue to $1.52bn, impacted by a 13% decrease in the volume of LNG sold.
For the current year, the company expects to export between 140 and 148 cargoes from the Calcasieu project and 219–239 cargoes from the Plaquemines project.
