NextDecade targets early July FID for Rio Grande LNG

July 3, 2023, by Aida Čučuk

U.S.-based energy company NextDecade has announced that Rio Grande LNG has received binding commitments from a syndicate of lenders in an amount sufficient, together with expected project equity funding, to support a positive final investment decision (FID) of the first three liquefaction trains (Phase 1) at the Rio Grande LNG export facility in Brownsville, Texas.

Illustration; Archive; Courtesy of NextDecade

The lender group, according to NextDecade, includes Asian, European, Middle Eastern and North American project finance banks.

In line with updates, NextDecade informed it is now targeting FID on Phase 1 in early July with FIDs of its remaining trains to follow thereafter.

The company further said it has sold 16.2 million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Phase 1, or 92% of nameplate capacity, under long-term sale and purchase agreements, sufficient to support the binding debt commitments from the leading lenders and the near-term FID of the 17.61 MTPA Phase 1.

To remind, NextDecade, through its subsidiaries Rio Grande LNG and NEXT Carbon Solutions, is developing an LNG export project in South Texas, the Rio Grande LNG, with a liquefaction capacity of 27 MTPA.

In June, it signed framework agreements with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and TotalEnergies to enable the FID for the Rio Grande LNG Phase 1 and to provide momentum for the further development of Train 4 and Train 5.