Did you see that crazy shot Scottie Sheffler made at Hole 17 yesterday? He chipped the ball from the rough, 80 feet away. The ball landed on the green and rolled an additional 60 feet into the cup. He overcame a 4-shot final round lead held by the Scot Robert MacIntyre to win the BMW championship, his 18th PGA title. Intensity is the difference maker, said the Dallasite. Let’s see if he can win the FedEx Cup in the coming weekend.
Now onto the energy news of the past week.
Shangyou Nie
Editor, Well Read
Venture Global Wins Arbitration Against Shell
FOTOGRIN/Shutterstock
Venture Global LNG won a crucial legal battle over Shell after a New York-based tribunal ruled in its favor. This is the first of several arbitration cases Venture Global is fighting with its long-term European customers.
About the arbitration:
Shell alleged that Venture Global had violated its contract commitments by selling hundreds of cargoes to the spot market since March 2022, rather than honoring its contractual obligations to its long-term contract holders.
VG allegedly benefited from high spot prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
VG sold its first cargo from its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant on 1 March 2022.
VG argued that the company was not yet in full commercial operation because the plant's power system was not fully functioning.
Long-term customers, aka “foundational customers” with firm LNG offtake agreements, are key to LNG developers, especially newcomers such as VG, to raise funding to enable final investment decisions.
VG is using 18 smaller, modular trains for the Calcasieu Pass plant, different from the multi-million tonnes of large LNG trains in a traditional plant.
WSJ said Shell was “a customer to whom Venture Global in part owes its meteoric rise.”
In addition to Shell, VG’s long-term customers included BP, Repsol, Galp, Edison, and Orlen from Europe and Sinopec from China.
Implications:
This is a critical legal victory for the emerging American LNG supplier.
VG went public on 24 January 2025, right after Trump returned for his second term.
It had an ambitious IPO target market cap of $110 billion, twice as big as Cheniere, the number-one US LNG exporter.
VG had to lower its IPO price to half the target at $25 per share.
VG’s share price went up by 6.7 percent at the news of the arbitration result.
As of 19 August, VG’s market cap is $30 billion, trading at $12.48 per share, still 50 percent down year to date.
What they're saying:
“We are pleased with the tribunal’s determination, which reaffirms what Venture Global has maintained from the outset—the plain language in our contracts, mutually agreed upon with all of our customers, is clear,” said VG in a statement.
“We have consistently honored these agreements without exception. Our industry and the investors and lenders who underpin it, all rely on respect for both the sanctity of negotiated contracts and the experienced, objective regulatory and legal bodies that govern it,” added VG.
“Venture Global’s unique ability to incrementally export commissioning cargoes during the construction of our facilities has brought LNG to the market years faster than ever before and strengthened global energy security,” VG stated.
Shell said that it is disappointed by the ruling but will respect the court's decision.
“Trust in long-term contracts is the bedrock of the LNG industry and essential for continued investment and sustainable growth,” said Shell.
The ExxonMobil team in Trinidad & Tobago/Courtesy of John Ardill
ExxonMobil is on a roll. After entering Libya 2 weeks ago, the biggest American oil company has signed for 7 offshore blocks to enter Trinidad and Tobago. It is also about to sign an agreement for shale gas in Algeria.
About the ExxonMobil deals:
Last week, ExxonMobil signed a production sharing agreement in T&T for seven offshore blocks, which are close to the Stabroek block in neighboring Guyana.
According to a LinkedIn post by John Ardill, ExxonMobil’s VP for Global Exploration, the T&T Ultra Deepwater Block spans about 7,100 sq km.
ExxonMobil’s $42 million commitment includes collecting 3D seismic surveys and drilling two exploration wells.
According to Bloomberg, Algeria is about to sign an agreement with ExxonMobil to develop shale gas resources.
“The technical aspects have more or less been agreed upon, but the commercial alignment is still under negotiation and will soon be finalized,” said Samir Bekhti, Chair of Alnaft, Algeria’s government agency in charge of licensing.
Who else is looking at Algeria:
Chevron is also close to signing firm deals to enter Algeria, according to the same Bloomberg report.
China’s Sinopec also signed in July to explore shale rocks in the 36,000 sq km Guern El Guessa II block in the Gourara-Timimoun basin in southwest Algeria.
This is ExxonMobil’s 4th FPSO in Guyana after Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and Prosperity.
ExxonMobil said that it could use equipment and resources in Guyana to help with exploration activities in Trinidad and Tobago.
ExxonMobil exited T&T in 2003 after a failed exploration campaign.
Background for Algeria:
Algeria is Africa’s largest gas producer at 9 billion cubic feet per day, and exported 53 percent of its gas production to Europe in 2024.
According to the US Energy Information Agency, Algeria holds large amounts of shale oil and gas, similar to Argentina and China.
Algeria has historically had more European investors, such as ENI, Total, and Repsol.
ExxonMobil and Chevron signed the preliminary agreement with Algeria in 2024.
The agreements were for blocks in the Ahnet and Berkine basins.
What they’re saying:
“While this is still frontier exploration, [T&T] has great potential in this ultra-deepwater area,” said John Ardill, ExxonMobil’s VP for Global Exploration.
“What we are awarding today is larger than the surface area of the country,” said Roodal Moonilal, T&T’s Energy Minister, according to Reuters.
Ardill said that the SPA with T&T was signed “in record time.”
“The United States did not reach this level of [shale production] performance overnight. It took them no less than 15 years,” said Bekhti of Algeria.
“For Algeria, it could take less time than that because the infrastructure, facilities, and pipeline network are already in place,” added Bekhti.
“Algeria holds a world-class petroleum system with the potential for significant oil and gas resources,” said Chevron in a statement as quoted by Bloomberg.
“We are excited by the prospective synergies and relationship we could create in Algeria,” said Chevron.
“Consistent with the Heads of Agreement we signed in May 2024, we continue to work with Sonatrach to unlock Algeria’s unconventional resources,” said ExxonMobil.
These new deals by ExxonMobil and Chevron are the latest examples of IOCs—including those from the USA—seeking overseas oil and gas growth opportunities.
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