The Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry at its July 14 meeting approved $184.6 million in industrial tax exemptions for Venture Global.

Venture Global has invested $7 billion in Cameron Parish, “nothing to sneeze at” said Don Pierson, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary.

The company also receives supplemental tax credits via the state’s Quality Jobs program which gives rebates for portions of a business’ payroll or project facility cost.

A senior accountant represented the company at the meeting. He said he didn’t know the timeline or remaining investment regarding fully commissioning the facility.

“Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LNG remains the longest ever commissioning period for a U.S. liquefaction facility, since exporting the first cargo from the facility in March 2022. Operating “pre-commercially” may have enabled the company to make billions of dollars over the past year,” reported Corey Paul in the S&P Global Commodity Insights online article.

The novel, modular design of Calcasieu Pass had the plant up and running in record time. However, commercial operations were delayed because of needed repairs.

The fact that the Calcasieu Pass has not reached full commercial operations, but has loaded 178 shipments at Calcasieu Pass is a concern for two of its foundation or long-time contract customers. None of those shipments went to them.

Edison, an Italian company, brought an arbitration proceeding against Venture Global over its failure to supply cargoes in May. Repsol, a Spanish company, recently challenged Venture Global in an appeal to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to provide it with cargoes, according to the Claims Journal.

Reaching full commercial operations is a key distinction that would cause its long-term contract with customers Edison and Repsol to kick in, according to a June 28 Advocate article.

In May, the company asked the Department of Environmental Quality to increase its pollutant-permitting allowances at the Calcasieu Pass Plant, instead of recalibrating its operations in order to come into compliance, according to a 10/12 Industry Report and article in The Lens by Joshual Rosenberg.

Anne Rolfes, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said the environmental advocacy group is waiting to hear if Venture Global Calcasieu Pass will be penalized for violations.

“The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is due to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC has three months to approve it. It then goes to the Department of Energy for the public interest determination, Rolfes said in an email to the American Press.