By Kelly Were
The energy giant Shell has launched a high-stakes legal bid to overturn a major arbitration loss, accusing American exporter Venture Global LNG of misleading tactics in a multi-billion dollar dispute over liquefied natural gas deliveries.
In a filing to the New York Supreme Court, Shell alleged that Venture Global’s failure to provide critical documents and its use of unauthorised third-party communications fundamentally compromised the arbitration process, which had ruled in Venture Global’s favour this past August.
The conflict originates from the tumultuous energy markets of 2022 and 2023. Shell, alongside BP and Edison, had filed arbitration claims against Venture Global for its failure to deliver dozens of contracted LNG cargoes from its Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana.
 During this period, Venture Global invoked a “startup mode” clause in its contracts, claiming its facility was not yet fully operational.
This allowed the company to sell more than 400 cargoes on the volatile spot market, netting an estimated profit exceeding $20 billion as prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while its long-term contract customers faced shortages.
Shell’s new court challenge does not directly question the arbitration panel’s factual conclusions but rather attacks the integrity of the process itself.
The company claims that Venture Global withheld vital evidence concerning the timeline of its plant achieving full commercial operations, which would have terminated the “startup mode” exemption.
A Shell spokesperson stated, “The arbitration process was fundamentally compromised by Venture Global’s failure to produce key documents concerning the true status of their commercial operations.”
Venture Global has dismissed the move, with a company representative calling it a “desperate and baseless attempt by Shell to gain leverage after losing a fair arbitration.”
The outcome of this case is being closely watched across the global energy sector. “The grounds for a court to vacate an arbitration award are exceptionally narrow, focusing on procedural integrity, not the merits of the dispute,” explained legal expert Agnieszka Ason. This challenge tests the finality of international arbitration under ICC rules and could set a precedent for how force majeure and contractual flexibility clauses are interpreted in future energy contracts.
The dispute has already had a tangible impact, with Venture Global recently tightening its third-quarter earnings guidance, citing the need to set aside financial reserves for ongoing arbitrations.
With BP having successfully won a separate case valued at over $1 billion in October, the pressure is mounting on Venture Global as it faces a determined challenge to its controversial business strategy.
