The US LNG developer NextDecade has made a positive final investment decision (FID) on the first three trains of its 27 Mt/year Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) project, located in Brownsville, in the US State of Texas. NextDecade has executed a joint venture agreement for Phase 1, which includes US$5.9bn of financial commitments from Global Infrastructure Partners, GIC, Mubadala Investment Company and TotalEnergies. The total amount committed for Phase 1, which has a nameplate capacity of 17.6 Mt/year of LNG, stands at US$18.4bn.
The first phase of the RGLNG project, led by NextDecade and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), is expected to start operations in 2027. NextDecade has already sold 16.2 Mt/year of LNG from Phase 1, or 92% of nameplate capacity, under long-term sale and purchase agreements. In June 2023, NextDecade entered into a framework agreement with TotalEnergies, which will join the RGLNG project with a 16.7% interest in the project’ first phase and will offtake 5.4 Mt/year of LNG over a 20-year period.