German environmental groups are urging FERC to deny authorization for Venture Global LNG Inc.’s CP2 LNG project, calling a further buildout of U.S. export capacity a threat to each country’s climate goals.
In letters addressed to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Willie Phillips, 17 groups requested commissioners consider the Louisiana project’s impact on Calcasieu Parish communities. They also pushed back against the idea that projects like CP2 would be required to meet Germany’s energy needs following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Several studies and analyses clearly show that the German plans for LNG import terminals – which are also pushing U.S. LNG export terminals’ plans such as CP2 – are massively oversized and threaten to torpedo our climate targets,” the groups wrote.
Germany’s Kathrin Henneberger, a member of the federal parliament, also penned a letter to Phillips, requesting a denial for CP2. Henneberger is affiliated with Germany’s environmental party Alliance 90.
Embracing LNG?
Development of CP2 has been linked to Germany’s embrace of liquefied natural gas as a stabilizing force after the country was largely cut off from Russian pipeline supplies almost two years ago.
The roughly 24 million metric tons/year (mmty) project, sited near Venture’s Calcasieu Pass facility, is one of the few U.S. projects to land long-term supply contracts with European firms since the war began in Ukraine. German firms EnBW AG and Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE) each have inked 20-year contracts for a combined 3.25 mmty beginning in 2026.
SEFE is managed by Germany’s energy regulator and EnBW is majority owned by the state and municipal governments of the state of Baden-Württemberg. SEFE was formed in 2022 after the German government gained control of Gazprom Germania GmbH, a former unit of Russia’s PJSC Gazprom.
CP2 remains unsanctioned. It still needs final FERC approval, as well as an export permit from the Department of Energy. A final environmental assessment was issued last summer.
Late last year, CP2 contract holders including SEFE requested that FERC “place the greatest importance and urgency” on approving the project to advance Venture’s estimated timeline.
“Germany is now urgently relying on the United States of America to provide much needed LNG supplies for our people which will be used for domestic gas, for the electricity we consume originating from gas-fired power plants or for our industries,” SEFE managing director Egbert Laege wrote in December to FERC.
While the first Calcasieu Pass facility is still technically in the commissioning phase, Venture has been selling commissioning cargoes to mostly European buyers. SEFE has purchased four cargoes from Venture Global as of December, according to data from Kpler. One cargo was sent to the Finnish import terminal at Inkoo earlier in the month as a part of Germany’s energy collaboration with its European Union partners.
Contradictions
Henneberger and the German groups refuted SEFE’s backing of the project, arguing that expanding gas import terminals over the last two years has been aimed at serving industrial users versus residences. It also threatens to leave Germany oversupplied with import capacity and locked into buying natural gas while consumption declines through the decade.
“The long-term supply contracts concluded with German companies such as SEFE and EnBW for up to 20 years contradict Germany's climate targets and the aim of phasing out all fossil fuels as quickly as possible,” Henneberger said.
Scrutiny of CP2 comes as the U.S. LNG industry faces potential headwinds from domestic environmental groups. So far, groups including the Sierra Club have not swayed federal regulators to deny any LNG export approvals. However, Energy Transfer LP’s proposed Lake Charles LNG suffered a setback last year after DOE clarified its policy on extensions.The Biden administration has faced pressure to revise the environmental review process for LNG projects as the pending permit list grows. DOE has yet to issue authorization for worldwide LNG exports under the Biden administration.
