Venture Global cuts 2025 profit forecast on volatile LNG prices, transport snags

New throughout, adds average liquefaction fees and stock price movement

By Tanay Dhumal and Curtis Williams

Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. LNG firm Venture Global VG.N lowered its full-year 2025 core profit forecast on Monday, falling below Wall Street expectations as the company has been weighed down by price volatility and shipping constraints.

Volume and pricing were affected by changes in Henry Hub and international LNG prices, as well as limited vessel availability in the Atlantic basin, Venture Global said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The second largest American LNG exporter now forecasts a 2025 core profit of between $6.18 billion and $6.24 billion, down from its previous estimate of $6.35 billion to $6.50 billion. Shares declined by about 3% on Monday to just over $7 in mid-morning trading.

Analysts were expecting core profit of $6.36 billion for the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company said it pulled forward scheduled maintenance late in the quarter and used its fleet of owned and chartered vessels to mitigate some of the impacts of tight shipping markets.

The LNG firm said forward pricing for vessels in February and March has improved from 2025 year-end levels.

Venture Global exported 128 cargoes in the fourth quarter of 2025, of which 38 came from its Calcasieu Pass facility along with 90 coming from its Plaquemines facility.

Liquefaction fees at Venture Global's Plaquemines plant, from which it sells all of its LNG on the spot market, were considerably higher than at its Calcasieu Pass plant, where it sells the LNG under long-term contract to customers including Shell SHEL.L and BP BP.L.

The weighted average fixed liquefaction fee from Plaquemines for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $6.02 per MMBtu, almost three times as high as the $2.01 per MMBtu seen at Calcasieu Pass, the company reported in its filing on Monday.

Venture Global's share price has fallen more than 70% since it became a publicly traded company just over a year ago as it also faces numerous arbitration proceedings related to previous commissioning delays.

(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru and Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Nathan Crooks and David Gregorio)

((Tanay.Dhumal@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/TanayDhumal;))