NextDecade Corp. has officially reached a final investment decision (FID) and given a notice to proceed on construction of the first phase of its Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) facility.
The Houston-based company disclosed Wednesday afternoon that it had secured $18.4 billion for the 17.6 million metric ton/year (mmty) first phase, making it what the company said is the largest greenfield energy project financing in U.S. history.
The firm previously teased before the Independence Day holiday that it received commitments from an international consortium of lenders that would allow it to reach FID sometime in July, including Asian, European, Middle Eastern and North American project finance banks.
CEO Matt Schatzman said reaching FID was a “landmark event” years in the making. Rio Grande LNG has been in development since at least early 2015.
“Now our focus turns to safely constructing Phase 1 on time and on budget and progressing commercial negotiations on RGLNG Train 4 and Train 5 to further expand our LNG platform and grow NextDecade shareholder value,” Schatzman said.
Overall, the export facility planned for Brownsville, TX, is designed for a 27 mmty nameplate capacity at full build-out. It could also incorporate a carbon capture, storage and sequestration project, which is being commercialized separately.
Along with the notice to proceed delivered to its contractor, Bechtel Corp., NextDecade said the FID also marks the solidification of its equity agreements with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and TotalEnergies. Both companies agreed to contribute $5.9 billion of the project’s financial commitments.
NextDecade has placed 16.2 mmty of LNG from phase 1, or around 92% of nameplate capacity, under contract. TotalEnergies also agreed to take 5.4 million metric tons/year (mmty) of liquefied natural gas from phase 1 for 20 years as a part of its equity agreement.
NextDecade becomes the third U.S. LNG export project to reach FID this year, following Port Arthur LNG in Texas and the second phase of Plaquemines LNG in Louisiana.
