Venture Global raised its full-year earnings forecast on Tuesday after posting third-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates, as the US liquefied natural gas exporter looks to use its energy infrastructure expertise to tap booming demand from artificial intelligence data centers.
Shares of the Arlington, Virginia-based company rose about 3% in morning trading.
Rising electricity demand from AI data centers is pressuring power grids across the US, creating opportunities for companies able to provide dedicated power generation and infrastructure.
In October, Venture Global signed framework agreements with GE Vernova (GEV.N), opens new tab and Baker Hughes (BKR.O), opens new tab for up to 16 power-island units totaling roughly 11.5 gigawatts of capacity, along with transformers and related grid equipment to support future data center developments.
“Venture Global can provide access to island-mode power, land, closed-loop water systems … and track record of execution as the market dictates to support compute capacity for the country’s AI race,” Chief Executive Mike Sabel said.
The company expects its first compute capacity to come online in late 2028 and projects its data center-related power capacity could reach about 5 GW by the end of 2031.
Speaking on an earnings call, Sabel said Louisiana is emerging as a leading location for AI infrastructure development in light of the midterm election results earlier this month because of its supportive policy environment and available energy resources.
“We’re not connecting and reliant on the utility grids, we have no impact on the community’s grids or available power generation or prices, and we’re not reliant on the water utilities either,” Sabel said, highlighting how the company’s systems can operate independently of Louisiana’s power and water systems.
Sabel said Venture Global’s growing LNG business should provide ample cash flow to support both LNG expansion projects and its push into AI infrastructure.
“The cumulative EBITDA from today for 2027, 2028 and 2029 is significant, and my view is that it’s going to, in aggregate, be in excess of $30 billion, depending on your price assumption on the sale of cargoes in the future,” he said.
With more than $5 billion of cash on hand and strong projected earnings growth, Venture Global does not expect financing constraints to hinder either its LNG expansion projects or its planned data center investments, Sabel said.
RISING LNG DEMAND
The company sees increased demand for LNG supply contracts from Asian buyers amid continuing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.
“It’s an extremely attractive 20-year market for us right now. Probably as good as we’ve seen since the beginning,” Sabel said, adding that the company expects to sign additional long-term LNG agreements by year-end.
He said Venture Global also intends to pursue more medium-term LNG contracts because shorter-duration agreements typically command higher liquefaction fees and stronger returns.
Venture Global expects first LNG production from its CP2 export project in July 2027, about 24 months after the project’s final investment decision. The company said it expects CP2 to ramp up production faster than its Plaquemines LNG facility.
Venture Global raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA forecast to between $10 billion and $10.3 billion, from a previous range of $8.7 billion to $9.1 billion. Analysts, on average, had expected about $9.2 billion, according to LSEG.
Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA rose to $2.6 billion, topping analyst estimates of about $2.5 billion.
Source: Reuters