LNG

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project on the Brownsville Ship Channel in Texas, has signed a volume increase of the sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with ENN LNG of Singapore, a trading unit of the Chinese ENN Natural Gas Group.

NextDecade, the US developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project along the Brownsville Ship Channel, has confirmed that a final investment decision for the venture would again be delayed, this time until the second half of 2022.

NextDecade, developer of the Rio Grande export project in Texas and listed on the Nasdaq global stock exchange, has missed its deadline to file first-quarter earnings and is expected to further delay its final investment decision.

US regulators have denied requests for the rehearing of its orders authorizing construction and operation of two of three proposed liquefied natural gas export plants on the shore of the Brownsville Ship Channel in Cameron County in Texas. 

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project, said the US Department of Energy issued an order granting authorization to export cargoes to non-free trade agreement countries.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized three LNG export projects around the Texas Port of Brownsville comprising multiple liquefaction Trains and around 37 million tonnes per annum of output, along with investments amounting to almost $39 million to create thousands of jobs in the Gulf Coast port region.

NextDecade Corp., the Texas LNG project company has signed an accord with Enbridge Inc, the Canadian pipeline company, to jointly develop pipelines in South Texas to take feed-gas to the Rio Grande LNG export plant planned for the Port of Brownsville.

NextDecade is planning the Rio Grande liquefaction facility and its associated Rio Bravo Pipeline.

Rio Bravo is designed to transport 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Agua Dulce area to the Rio Grande export plant at Brownsville.

NextDecade said its intention is to develop an export path for natural gas from the Permian Basin to the global LNG market.

Under current plans, NextDecade’s Rio Grande plant will have capacity to produce around 27 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

“Enbridge is one of North America’s leading energy infrastructure companies and we look forward to exploring a strong partnership in South Texas,” said NextDecade Chairman and Chief Executive Matt Schatzman.

“With its Texas Eastern Pipeline and recently completed Valley Crossing Pipeline, Enbridge has extensive permitting, construction, and operating experience in the State of Texas, especially in South Texas,” added Schatzman.

Bill Yardley, Enbridge’s President of Gas Transmission and Midstream, said the Toronto-listed company was excited to be working with NextDecade for pipeline solutions in the US export market.

“Our existing infrastructure fits very well with the Brownsville location,” explained Yardley.

“This is a continuation of our strategy to bring our major projects execution and permitting capability to the expanding LNG export efforts in North America,” he stated.

Both companies anticipate finalizing definitive documentation reflecting the terms of their current accord in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The Rio Grande project in May 2019 signed fully wrapped lump-sum turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contracts with Bechtel, including cost, schedule and performance guarantees.

The EPC contracts are for the first phase of the Rio Grande facility, comprising three liquefaction Trains, two 180,000 cubic metres storage tanks and two marine berths totaling exactly $9.56 billion.

Each Rio Grande liquefaction train for the Brownsville plant is expected to have capacity up to 5.87 MTPA, which would generate an EPC cost of around $543 per ton for the first three Trains.