HOUSTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission on Wednesday asked Venture Global LNG to

explain why reports on its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant need to be

kept confidential as customers complained about a lack of

transparency.

The Louisiana production and export facility has been since

2022 in the commissioning stage, a process that typically takes

months. FERC gave Venture Global five days to respond.

Venture Global's customers have protested to FERC that they

have not received sufficient explanations for the commissioning

delay, which they say has cost them billions of dollars in

profit.

They also said the company's decision to file documents on

plant construction and repairs to the energy regulator

confidentially under national security provisions deprived them

of key information.

The Arlington, Virginia-based LNG exporter has previously

said it will not provide its customers with the privileged

documents unless FERC requires it.

The FERC request comes days after Venture Global customers

challenged the company's request for a one-year extension of its

startup process and urged regulators to make Venture Global

release the confidential commissioning documents.

Shell PLC ( SHEL ), BP PLC, Italian utility Edison

, Repsol, Orlen SA ( PSKOF ) and Galp Energia

SA believe Venture Global has completed the plant and

is selling its LNG on the spot market, depriving them of sales.

PROTECTIVE ORDER

Venture Global "remains committed to compliance with all

FERC requirements" and will promptly provide a request for a

protective order at Calcasieu Pass laying out grounds for

confidentiality, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Such orders have not previously been necessary because there

were no objections involving the plant, the spokesperson said.

Shell, one of the companies that has asked FERC to make the

documents public, disagreed and hopes the regulator will bar

further unnecessary confidential filings, a spokesperson said.

Venture Global's making Calcasieu Pass filings non-public

for nearly a decade does not meet regulations and "is consistent

with company's complete disregard for transparency," the Shell

spokesperson said.

Repsol and Galp said they were unable to take a position on

the extension request because the lack of access to the

documents made it impossible to assess the merits.