NextDecade Corporation, a liquefied natural gas development company, has announced that it has entered into framework agreements with Global Infrastructure Partners and TotalEnergies to support the Rio Grande LNG project. Under the agreements, GIP will become a majority investor in phase one of the project, while TotalEnergies will become a 16.67 percent investor. TotalEnergies has also agreed to purchase 5.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 20 years from phase one of the project.
Furthermore, as part of the agreements, TotalEnergies will acquire a 17.5 percent common stock position in NextDecade, which will provide the company with further investment options in trains four and five of the project, as well as in a planned carbon capture and sequestration project at Rio Grande. The carbon capture and sequestration project is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the LNG facility, making it one of the world’s first LNG export facilities to incorporate carbon capture and sequestration technology.
The Rio Grande LNG project is a proposed LNG export facility located in Brownsville, Texas, with a planned production capacity of up to 27 million tonnes per annum. The facility will be constructed in phases, with phase one expected to have a production capacity of 13.5 million tonnes per annum. The project is expected to create thousands of jobs during the construction phase and hundreds of jobs during the operational phase, generating significant economic benefits for the region.
NextDecade is currently targeting a final investment decision on phase one of the project by the end of the second quarter of 2021. The agreements with GIP and TotalEnergies will provide NextDecade with additional financial resources to support the project’s development and accelerate its progress towards a final investment decision. The agreements also demonstrate the growing interest in LNG as a cleaner alternative to traditional fossil fuels and the importance of carbon capture and sequestration technologies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from LNG facilities.
For more information visit www.next-decade.com
