NextDecade secures $1.8bn funding for Rio Grande LNG project

NextDecade has secured $1.8bn funding from TotalEnergies and Global Infrastructure Partners [GIP] who will be joint venture partners at Rio Grande LNG Train 4 in Brownsville, Texas.

GIP will pay $1.5bn for a 50% stake and TotalEnergies $300m for a 10% stake, according to a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing, while NextDecade will invest $1.2bn. The agreement is subject to final investment decision (FID) which NextDecade is targeting in September.

If Train 4 reaches “certain returns on investment”, NextDecade’s stake would rise to 60% and GIP’s would fall to 30%.

Under a sale and purchase agreement signed in April, TotalEnergies Gas & Power North America will buy 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG for 20 years on a free-on-board basis at a price indexed to Henry Hub, subject to a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) on Train 4.

NextDecade has contracted 4.6 mtpa of LNG from Train 4 on a long-term basis and expects existing long-term commercial agreements to be sufficient to support a positive FID. A $4.3bn EPC contract was signed with Bechtel in August 2024.

NextDecade recently announced a 20-year, 2 mtpa LNG sale and purchase agreement with JERA for offtake from the fifth train.