Shares of Venture Global (NYSE: VG) rallied 14.2% on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, after the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter delivered a first-quarter beat that paired record cargo volumes with a sharply higher full-year outlook — and announced two new long-term supply agreements with TotalEnergies and Vitol. The move pushed VG to roughly $13.27 and lifted year-to-date gains close to 95%, capping a recovery from its sub-$6 lows last summer.
Q1 2026: revenue up 59%, cargo volume doubled
Venture Global reported Q1 2026 revenue of $4.6 billion, a 59% increase year-over-year, with net income of $488 million (up 23%) and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $1.4 billion. The headline-grabbing figure for traders, however, was volume: the company shipped 130 LNG cargos during the quarter — a 106% jump from Q1 2025 — and sold a record 481 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of LNG, up 111% year-over-year.
That kind of operational ramp at the Plaquemines and Calcasieu Pass facilities is what made the bigger announcement possible: management raised its full-year 2026 Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA guidance to $8.2–$8.5 billion, sharply above the prior $5.2–$5.8 billion range issued only one quarter ago — a roughly 50% increase at the midpoint.
| Metric | Q1 2026 | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.6B | +59% |
| Net income | $488M | +23% |
| Consolidated Adj. EBITDA | $1.4B | +2% |
| LNG cargos exported | 130 | +106% |
| LNG sold (TBtu) | 481 | +111% |
| 2026 EBITDA guidance | $8.2–$8.5B | (raised from $5.2–$5.8B) |
The TotalEnergies and Vitol deals
Alongside earnings, the company unveiled two new LNG purchase agreements. The first is a roughly 0.85 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), approximately five-year supply contract with French super-major TotalEnergies starting in 2026. The second is an expansion of an existing relationship with global commodities trader Vitol — the parties increased their previously announced 1.5 MTPA agreement to 1.7 MTPA for five years.
Combined, the two deals add roughly 1.05 MTPA of contracted demand to Venture Global’s medium-term book. To put that in context, 1 MTPA of LNG is equivalent to about 51 standard-sized cargoes per year, or roughly 48 billion cubic feet of natural gas. CEO Mike Sabel framed the agreements as evidence of customer confidence in the company’s ability to deliver “reliable, low-cost U.S. LNG to global markets quickly and at scale.”
Venture Global said total long-term supply additions executed in 2026 now exceed 3 MTPA, including separate commitments with Hanwha Aerospace. The deals are notable because they come from buyers on different sides of the market: TotalEnergies as an end-user with a global regas footprint, and Vitol as a flexible trader that can place molecules wherever spreads are widest.
Why traders cared: pipeline plus financing
Two project milestones drove the guidance raise. First, Plaquemines LNG is now expected to reach Phase I commercial operations in Q4 2026 and Phase II by mid-2027, accelerating the project’s contribution to commissioning-cargo and full-margin revenue. Second, on the company’s announced CP2 LNG project, Venture Global confirmed a final investment decision and closed $8.6 billion in project financing, with production scheduled for the second half of 2027.
That came on top of two earlier debt-market transactions in April: a $1.75 billion senior secured credit facility at Calcasieu Pass Funding on April 10, followed by a $750 million senior secured note issuance at Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC on April 23. Both signal continued investor appetite for the company’s LNG project debt.
The macro backdrop: U.S. LNG exports near record
The fundamentals helping Venture Global are the same ones helping every U.S. exporter. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, U.S. LNG exports hit a record 569 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in December 2025, with February 2026 still printing near 494 Bcf — supported by European storage rebuilds, displaced Russian pipeline gas, and resilient Asian demand.
Risks worth watching
Three things kept the stock from running further. First, Adjusted EBITDA grew only 2% year-over-year despite revenue more than tripling on a per-cargo basis — a reminder that Venture Global’s spread between received LNG prices and feedgas costs is the lever that matters most, and Q1 included higher commissioning costs. Second, the CP2 ramp is still a 2027 story, so execution and cost discipline at Plaquemines Phase II will determine whether the new EBITDA range is the floor or the ceiling. Third, the company faces ongoing arbitration disputes with several of its long-term foundation customers over commissioning-cargo volumes — a contingent liability that remains unresolved.
Where VG sits in the export complex
Venture Global is now the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter behind Cheniere Energy, with Plaquemines and Calcasieu Pass alone targeting 494–523 cargos in 2026. With CP2 and CP3 in the pipeline and the contracted book climbing, the equity is increasingly being priced as a long-dated infrastructure cash-flow story rather than a commodity trade — though the share price still reacts sharply to single-quarter cargo cadence. Tuesday’s reaction shows how much torque remains on both the up- and downside.
Sources
- Venture Global — Q1 2026 results press release (May 12, 2026)
- Venture Global — LNG purchase agreements with TotalEnergies and Vitol (May 12, 2026)
- Venture Global news center (financing milestones, April 2026)
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — U.S. LNG exports
- Yahoo Finance — Venture Global (VG) quote
Disclosure: This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed before publication. It is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.