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

By Vallari Srivastava and Sumit Saha

March ‌3 (Reuters) - Venture ​Global ​shares jumped more than 8% on Tuesday, hitting their highest level since October 10, after a ‌New York court rejected Shell's 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, Italy's Edison, Spain's ‌Repsol and Portugal's Galp 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.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava and Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy ‌Leo)

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