Venture Global gets permission to export LNG from second Cameron facility to more countries

Venture Global said it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy, increasing the number of countries that can receive liquefied natural gas from its second Cameron Parish facility.

The approval means Venture Global can export LNG from its Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, project to any country, including Europe. Previously, the plant was limited to exporting to the 20 countries the U.S. has free trade agreements with, which includes nations such as Australia, Canada, Israel, Korea, Mexico and Singapore.

“Expanding U.S. LNG exports bolsters our economy, supports American jobs and provides reliable, secure AMERICAN energy production to the American people and our allies around the world,” the energy department said in a post on X.

Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel thanked the Trump administration for returning to “regulatory certainty” that allows the company to expand LNG imports. President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to move ahead with permitting LNG facilities quickly, while the Biden Administration paused export permits for CP2 in order to study its impact on global warming. This is the fifth LNG-related approval from the energy department since Trump returned to the White House two months ago.

“This will enable us to provide our allies around the world with American LNG in just a few years and for decades to come,” Sabel said in a statement.

The process for making a final investment decision on CP2 was launched earlier this month. Venture Global said it has purchase agreements with companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and China Gas for the LNG produced at the plant.

Sabel said CP2 is “getting ready to launch as soon as we get maybe a couple more permits from the federal government.”

The LNG export business has been booming in Louisiana since at least 2010 when Cheniere Energy first applied to ship the fuel from its then-planned Sabine Pass terminal in southwest Louisiana. Three other LNG terminals have opened in the state since then, most recently Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG, which started production in December. Venture Global announced plans earlier this month for an $18 billion expansion of Plaquemines LNG, which would make it the largest exporter in North America.

CP2 would pump out about 20 million tons of LNG annually, which would make it the third-largest LNG exporter in the nation.

Environmental groups criticized the energy department’s export approval, noting that comments on CP2 will be accepted until Thursday afternoon. 

“By conditionally approving this massive project, Trump’s Department of Energy is once again failing to protect the American people from an unnecessary LNG project set to generate billions for corporate executives and leave everyday people with higher energy costs,” Mahyar Sorour, Sierra Club director of beyond fossil fuels policy, said in a statement.