Aug 23 (Reuters) - A tanker carrying liquefied natural

gas has docked at Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines export plant

in Louisiana, according to the company and shipping data from

LSEG, in what analysts say is a sign the facility could start up

in test mode soon.

The Malta-flagged vessel Qogir, coming from Norway, docked

at the U.S. port, Venture Global said on social media on Friday.

A second LNG tanker, the Liberia-flagged Venture Gator, was on

Friday heading up the Mississippi river, according to LSEG data.

When the Plaquemines plant comes into full operations,

Venture Global will become the second largest LNG exporter in

the U.S. and the plant will be the second largest U.S. LNG

export facility, with a capacity to produce 20 million metric

tons per annum (MTPA) of the superchilled gas.

Venture Global on Friday posted a photo on platform X

showing the Qogir docked at Plaquemines. The company did not

provide further details. The tanker was fully loaded at its

arrival, according to LSEG vessel monitoring data.

LNG plants under construction, like Plaquemines, use

superchilled fuel to test and cool equipment in preparation for

startup.

After Plaquemines started pulling in small amounts of

natural gas from U.S. pipelines in late June and mid-July,

analysts said the plant could start turning gas into LNG in test

mode in coming months.

As part of its testing process, Venture Global sought

permission in early July from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission (FERC) to introduce gas to a turbine generator.

Venture Global has said building Plaquemines' two phases

would entail an investment of about $21 billion.

Analysts have said they expect Venture Global to complete

work on the first 1.8-billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) phase of

Plaquemines from 2024 to 2026 and the second 1.2-bcfd phase in

2025-2026.

The U.S. is the world's biggest LNG exporter with seven

export plants able to produce about 104.6 million tonnes a year

(MTPA) of LNG. The export capacity is expected to rise to some

129.4 MTPA in mid-2025 as the first phase of Plaquemines and

Cheniere Energy's expansion at its Corpus Christi,

Texas, plant enter service.