By Curtis Williams
(Reuters) - U.S. federal regulators on Wednesday gave Venture Global LNG permission to increase the export capacity of its Plaquemines, Louisiana, LNG plant.
Regulators in a statement said they had approved the plant increasing production capacity to 27.2 million metric tons per year of the superchilled gas, up from 24 million tons.
The capacity increase means the second largest LNG exporter in the United States will be able to grow overseas shipments from Plaquemines by about 13%, strengthening the U.S. as the world's largest exporter of the fuel.
Venture Global in January became one of the most valuable U.S. LNG companies when it began trading publicly.
Venture told investors last month its strategy is to have extended commissioning periods so it can maximize profits through spot sales at prices higher than it can get under long-term contracts, and to produce at well above the plant's design capacity to sell excess LNG on the spot market.
Plaquemines is expected to be in commissioning for almost three years when phase 1 and 2 are combined, with all the profits going to the company and its long term customers receiving their first cargoes in 2026 and 2027.
Regulators acknowledged the increase in LNG capacity would have an adverse environmental impact but said it remained at acceptable levels and was not inconsistent with public interest.
"We acknowledge that, the project will increase the atmospheric concentration of GHGs (green house gases) and will contribute cumulatively to climate change, but we are unable to characterize these emissions as significant or insignificant," FERC said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has declared an energy emergency and has vowed to grow U.S. energy production and exports.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams; Editing by Kim Coghill and Tom Hogue)