LNG

XRG, the investment arm of ADNOC, has acquired an additional stake in Trains 4 and 5 at the Rio Grande LNG at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. With the latest deal, XRG bought an additional 7.6% stake in both trains from a Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) vehicle owned by BlackRock, building on its initial purchase of an indirect 11.7% interest in Trains 1, 2 and 3, also through GIP.

US federal regulators have granted NextDecade another three years to complete the first five trains at its Rio Grande LNG export project, extending the in-service-deadline to November 2031. NextDecade subsequently filed an application for train 6.

Five US LNG projects are set to start operations and ramp up productions by the end of 2027, adding nearly 30% to the country’s current peak export capacity of 18.3 bcf/d and helping offset 10 Bcf/d of damaged Qatari export capacity, according to US government analysts.

ABB has been contracted by Bechtel to deploy an automation platform for Trains 4 and 5 of the Rio Grande LNG project in Brownsville, Texas, as the plant moves to its full 30 mtpa production capacity.

ADNOC’s finance arm, XRG will raise its stake in Rio Grande LNG project by buying another 7.6% stake in Trains 4 and 5 from the BlackRock affiliate Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The acquisition adds to XRG’s existing 11.7% interest in the project's first three Trains.

NextDecade, the company proposing to build the Rio Grande liquefied natural gas export plant in Texas, named Ping Lee as its main LNG marketing executive for China and Southeast Asia.