Venture Global (VG) Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Natural gas exporter Global company Shares fell 4% on their first day of trading, as the company sought to test investors’ appetite for energy stocks amid the Trump administration’s efforts to implement a sweeping agenda aimed at boosting energy production. oil and gas.

“The Trump administration has made it very clear that it supports growing LNG exports,” Venture CEO Mike Sabel told CNBC in an interview Friday.

Shares ended the day at $24, putting the company’s market capitalization at around $58 billion. Venture is the second largest LNG exporter in the US behind Cheniere.

The company had set the price of its initial public offering of 70 million shares at $25 to raise $1.75 billion for a total valuation of around $60.5 billion. But the stock opened 3.8% below that price at $24.05 when trading began on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon.

Even before that opening, Venture had already slashed the price of its IPO from its original target. the company had originally planned offer 50 million shares in a range of $40 to $46, which would have raised about $2.2 billion at the midpoint for a total valuation of $110 billion.

Still, Venture’s IPO is the largest by an oil and gas company in a decade and the fourth largest since 2000. At a valuation of around $60 billion, it would be the 10th energy company listed on bag.

Venture is in various stages of commissioning, construction and development of five natural gas liquefaction and export facilities near the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Those projects are expected to have a maximum production capacity of 143.8 million tons per year, according to the company’s prospectus.

However, Venture is immersed in arbitration with clients, including large companies such as Shellwho accuse the company of failing to deliver LNG cargoes under long-term contract from its Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, President donald trump on Monday declared a national energy emergency and issued an executive order rescinding the Biden administration’s pause on new LNG export projects, removing a potential obstacle to Venture’s growth.

Trump’s policies, combined with cold winter weather and expected strong demand for artificial intelligence, are helping to push both natural gas prices and related stocks higher. Shares of Cheniere, for example, have risen more than 20% since Trump was elected. Natural gas prices increased 44% during that same period.

Correction: Venture Global’s CEO is Mike Sabel. An earlier version of this story misspelled his name.