Venture Global sees global LNG prices volatility 'very short-term', CEO says

By Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - Global liquefied natural gas price volatility caused by the Middle East crisis is "very short-term", Mike Sabel, chief executive officer with Venture Global VG.N, told the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo.

Some 20% of global LNG supply is now offline with QatarEnergy LNG facilities shut amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which has disrupted energy supplies from the Middle East. It could take months to return to normal deliveries, Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said last week.

"There's tremendous volatility in the markets," Sabel said. "However, we view that it's very short-term, and we're tremendously optimistic about the middle- and long-term strength of the market, equity in the market, supply coming online. We expect long-term, very stable liquefaction prices."

The average LNG price for April delivery into Northeast Asia was estimated at $19.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down from $22.50/mmBtu in the previous week, which was the highest level since mid-January 2023.

The price for May delivery was estimated at $18.90/mmBtu, industry sources said.

U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter, on Friday said it will proceed with phase 2 of its CP2 LNG project in Louisiana.

"We're going to add another 10 million tons (of LNG) to the 4 million tons of phase one," Sabel said.

"We expect actually the first and second phases will be producing initial energy next year - it'll have a significant impact on the fuel market prices pretty quickly."