Venture Global shares jump as court rejects Shell’s challenge to LNG ruling

A Shell logo is displayed in this file image (Source: AP)

Venture Global surged nearly 17 per cent in premarket trading on Tuesday, after a New York court rejected Shell’s request to throw out an arbitration award that favored the U.S.-based liquefied natural gas developer.

The British oil major had initially filed a complaint over Venture Global’s alleged improper sale of LNG but lost the arbitration case in August. Shell challenged the ruling in November.

Justice Joel Cohen of the state Supreme Court said no additional evidence-gathering was warranted, and the court owed “substantial deference” to arbitral decisions.

“We believe the stock price remains depressed due to arbitration overhang. This news will likely be seen as a positive,” UBS analyst Manav Gupta said.

Other energy companies including BP, Italy’s Edison, Spain’s Repsol and Portugal’s Galp had also filed claims against Venture Global.

The companies have accused Venture Global of profiting from selling LNG on the spot market - when prices surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - instead of delivering them the cargoes they had signed for years in advance.

Of the broader set of arbitration claims filed against the LNG producer, Shell and Repsol have already lost their cases, while BP won its case in October and is still awaiting a damages decision.

Shares of Venture Global jumped to US$13.27 before the bell and were on track to erase all losses since October 9, when it lost the case against BP.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava and Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)