• CERAWeek
  • March 18 - 22, 2024

Tom Earl

Venture Global LNG Marketing, LLC

Chief Commercial Officer

Tom Earl is the Chief Commercial Officer of VG LNG Marketing, LLC. Tom previously served as Vice President at the international oil company Total, focusing on the development of its global LNG business. After graduating from City University in London with a degree in Engineering, Tom joined Total’s newly formed gas marketing and trading team in 1998. After various responsibilities within the trading division of the newly combined Total, Elf and Petrofina operations, he managed the natural gas option desk and gas trading desk. Tom successfully led significant commercial negotiations on long-term gas and LNG contracts in countries such as Russia, Norway and Qatar. In 2006, Tom was appointed Head of Electricity Trading at Total where he led a significant expansion into newly opened power markets across Europe. In 2011, Tom moved to Houston, where he was appointed as head of Total’s North America commodity trading business, including its LNG, gas, power, coal, petcoke and LPG operations. Tom also represented Total in its US LNG liquefaction transactions from 2012 to 2015. In 2015, Tom was appointed Vice President of Development for Total’s global LNG activities. Tom led Total’s most recent and highly regarded global expansion into new LNG markets. This work has included innovative new LNG terminal projects and new downstream asset transactions across the world.

Sessions With Tom Earl

Wednesday, 13 March

  • 07:30am - 08:35am (CST) / -

    European Gas: Competition for markets

    Panel Gas

    There are significant areas of uncertainty for the European gas market in both the short and long-term. The long-awaited LNG push into Europe may be underway, and this would pose challenges for the commercial strategies of Gazprom and other pipeline suppliers. Trends for indigenous production are negative, with Dutch production being curtailed and offshore gas development in Romania delayed. Is there any prospect for unconventional gas to change the picture? In the longer term, existential questions remain regarding the future of gas in a low-carbon Europe. Can gas still have a major role despite EU mandates, or does the industry’s future rest on a gradual shift from methane to hydrogen?