HOUSTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) -

Venture Global LNG is on track to inaugurate liquefied

natural gas (LNG) production at its Plaquemines export plant in

Louisiana as soon as this week, LSEG data shows.

The startup will mark the first new U.S. plant this year to

produce the superchilled gas, beating Cheniere Energy's

Corpus Christi midscale expansion project to market.

Plaquemines' 20 million metric tons per annum (MTPA)

plant will cement Venture Global as the second-largest LNG

exporter in the United States by capacity, and ensure that the

United States remains the

world's largest exporter

of the superchilled gas.

The Louisiana export plant was set to draw over 100 million

cubic feet (mmcfd)of natural gas for the first time on Thursday,

data from financial firm LSEG showed.

U.S. regulators gave Venture Global permission on Thursday

to commission its sixth of 18 blocks at Plaquemines, a document

shows. Each block in the plant has two trains and utilize 150

mmcfd of gas.