(Reuters) - TotalEnergies rejected opportunities to become a long-term customer of Venture Global LNG's U.S. terminals because it did not trust the company, CEO Patrick Pouyanné told Reuters on Wednesday.

Venture Global has become the most valuable U.S. LNG company after a blockbuster initial public offering last month, but has been roiled by legal challenges from huge clients like BP and Shell for taking years to honor supply contracts as it commissions its projects.

"I don't want to deal with these guys, because of what they are doing. ... I don't want to be in the middle of a dispute with my friends, with Shell and BP," Pouyanné said.

He said Venture Global had approached Total, initially to see if it would be interested in a long-term supply contract for liquefied natural gas from the Calcasieu Pass terminal in Louisiana.

Pouyanné said he had rebuffed that offer out of a lack of trust.

"The price of the LNG was so low," he said. "I said to my colleague, How is it possible to pay $1 less than the rest of the market? What is the trick?"

He said Total later rejected the opportunity to take cargoes from Plaquemines, Venture Global's second and more recent terminal - also in Louisiana - which is still under construction, because of the controversy around the slow commissioning at Calcasieu Pass.

He said, however, that Total is prepared to buy Venture Global's spot cargoes if they are cheap enough.

Venture Global said it was surprised by Pouyanné's comments.

"We have great respect for Total and are surprised to hear this. We continue to honor our contracts and execute the construction of our facilities safely and at a record pace," a Venture Global spokesperson said.

Venture Global said it expects to move from commissioning to commercial operations at the Calcasieu Pass project by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

That plant has been producing and shipping LNG for almost three years. But it has been selling cargoes onto the relatively lucrative spot market instead of supplying contracted customers like BP, Shell, Repsol, Orlen and Edison, arguing the plant is not yet fully operational.

As of December 2024 the project had earned up to $8.6 billion in operating profits, according to SEC filings.

The company's Plaquemines plant is only partly constructed, but has already begun to process large quantities of gas. On Wednesday, it was on track to pull about 1.3 billion cubic feet, according to data from financial firm LSEG.

The U.S. is the world's largest exporter of LNG, and Venture Global its second largest LNG producer behind Cheniere. The ramp-up at Plaquemines is expected to help the U.S. maintain its No. 1 status in 2025.