Natural Gas Exporter Venture Global’s Stock Drops 4% in IPO Debut
Shares of natural gas exporter Venture Global fell 4% in their first day of trading, as the company tested investor appetite for energy stocks amid the Trump administration’s efforts to boost oil and gas production. The company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of around $58 billion.
Venture Global priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 70 million shares at $25 per share, raising $1.75 billion. The company’s market capitalization put it as the tenth-largest publicly traded energy company, and the largest IPO by an oil and gas company in a decade and the fourth-largest since 2000.
Despite the slight decline in its stock price, Venture Global’s IPO is a significant event in the energy sector, given its plans to develop five natural gas liquefaction and export facilities near the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. The facilities, which are expected to have a combined peak production capacity of 143.8 million tonnes per year, are currently in various stages of commissioning, building, and development.
However, the company is facing challenges, including a dispute with some customers, including major oil companies such as Shell, over the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes under long-term contracts from its Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.
The company’s IPO comes at a time when the Trump administration has been taking steps to boost oil and gas production, including declaring a national energy emergency and issuing an executive order to remove a pause on new LNG export projects, which may help drive growth for Venture Global.
Natural gas prices have also been rising, driven by cold winter weather and expected strong demand from artificial intelligence, helping to boost related stocks. Cheniere, another major LNG exporter, has seen its shares climb over 20% since President Trump’s election.
