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

By Vallari Srivastava and Sumit Saha

March 3 (Reuters) - Venture Global VG.N shares jumped more than 8% on Tuesday, hitting their highest level since October 10, after a New York court rejected Shell's SHEL.L bid to overturn an arbitration award in the U.S. LNG developer's favor.

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 BP.L, Italy's Edison EDNn.MI, Spain's Repsol REP.MC and Portugal's Galp GALP.LS 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.

Venture Global shares have erased the losses incurred after losing the arbitration case with BP in October.

Including Tuesday's moves, shares of the company have surged more than 87% so far this year.