US asks Venture Global LNG to justify confidentiality of Calcasieu filings
HOUSTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Wednesday asked Venture Global LNG to explain why reports on its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant need to be kept confidential, a development that came after major customers complained about its lack of transparency.
The request was regulators first response to months of filings from customers - including BP, Edison, and Shell - seeking its help in a dispute over whether the Louisiana plant's operations can fulfill their contracts.
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The customers have protested that they have not received sufficient explanations for the delay, which they say has cost them billions of dollars in profit. Venture Global LNG says the contracts allow it to decide when commercial operations begin.
Venture Global LNG has filed documents on plant construction and repairs confidentially under national security provisions that deprived them of key information on its operations, the customers said in requests to FERC.
The Arlington, Virginia-based LNG exporter has previously said it will not provide its customers with the privileged documents unless FERC required it.
The FERC request comes days after Venture Global customers challenged the company's request for a one-year extension of its startup process and urged regulators to make Venture Global release the confidential commissioning documents.
PROTECTIVE ORDER
Venture Global "remains committed to compliance with all FERC requirements" and will promptly provide a request for a protective order at Calcasieu Pass laying out grounds for confidentiality, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Such orders have not previously been necessary because there were no objections involving the plant, the spokesperson said.
Shell, one of the companies that has asked FERC to make the documents public, disagreed and hopes the regulator will bar further unnecessary confidential filings, a spokesperson said.
Venture Global's making Calcasieu Pass filings non-public for nearly a decade does not meet regulations and "is consistent with company’s complete disregard for transparency," the Shell spokesperson said.
Two other Venture Global customers, Repsol REP.MC and Galp Energia GALP.LS told FERC they were unable to take a position on the extension because the lack of access to the documents made it impossible to assess the request.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams; Editing by Josie Kao and Cynthia Osterman)