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THE DISRUPTIVELNGLNG LNG lngBP LNG LNGLNG BP LNG Your browser does not support the element. innovator of the global gas industry is stepping out of the shadows. On January 13th Venture Global, a privately held exporter of liquefied natural gas () based in Virginia, unveiled details of its planned flotation in New York. About a decade ago it sprang from obscurity and shocked incumbents in America’s Texan oil patch by using scalable, modular equipment made in factories rather than costly, bespoke techniques used by its competitors. In doing so, the upstart reduced the time required to build a massive terminal by about half, to less than three years. That helped it to undercut rivals on price and win early contracts with prestigious customers including Shell, a British oil major.Since then the firm has only grown in stature. When its second export terminal in Louisiana comes fully online, it will become the second-biggest exporting firm in America, whose share of the world’s supply of is set to grow (see chart). Venture Global has already raised a whopping $54bn in capital to fund its investments and expansions. Now the firm wants to tap public equity markets. It aims to raise roughly $2.2bn, which would make it one of the biggest energy public offerings in over a decade. The proposal would value the company at more than $100bn, leapfrogging the valuations of such giants as Britain’s and China’s Sinopec.If that sounds ambitious, consider three tailwinds. The first is that Venture Global has proved itself. Its agile technical approach could revolutionise the business; competitors are now looking to adopt modular technologies. That helped it earn $4.9bn in operating income and $7.9bn in revenues in 2023 (the latest full-year figures available), up from $3.6bn and $6.5bn, respectively, in the previous year. On one estimate, its long-term contracts are expected to rake in revenues exceeding $100bn over the next two decades.Second, the rise of artificial intelligence is proving to be a boon for natural gas. Gas is much cleaner than coal, which matters for big tech firms that are aspiring to meet their net-zero targets on carbon emissions. Gas plants run reliably regardless of whether the wind blows or the sun shines, which gives them an edge over intermittent renewables (unless those are deployed with big batteries).The final factor, and the reason Venture Global’s bankers and lawyers toiled through the Christmas holidays on their listing documentation, is the most important. It is no coincidence that shares of the firm are expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange next week—just days after Donald Trump is inaugurated as president on January 20th. He is an unabashed supporter of fossil fuels, and has explicitly called for boosting exports. He has vowed that one of his first acts in office will be to end a controversial “pause” imposed by President Joe Biden on the approval of certain projects. A reversal would remove a cloud hanging over the industry.Of course, not all will be smooth sailing. The firm may be too ambitious in the pricing of its shares, and its listing may fall flat as a result. Its aggressive commercial tactics have led big customers including and Shell to file arbitration claims worth over $5bn combined. They say, among other things, that when prices spiked Venture Global sold gas on the spot markets rather than fulfilling its contractual obligations to the oil giants (something the firm vigorously denies). Moreover, analysts predict that within a few years the global market will suffer from a glut that could prove painful for suppliers. Venture Global may have to come up with yet more innovations if it is to fare as well as a public company as it has as a private one.