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Released March 13, 2024 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Liquefied natural gas (LNG) company NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) (Houston, Texas) said Tuesday it has the regulatory approvals in place to proceed with planning for expansions to its export facility in southern Texas for super-cooled gas.
NextDecade is building its Rio Grande facility for LNG near the Brownsville shipping channel in south Texas. Its lease includes 15,000 feet of frontage on the channel and it is permitted for as much as 27 million tons of LNG exports per year (MTPA).
The facility could have as many as five liquefaction and purification units, called trains. The company said it has permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for all five trains.
"Our progress remains aligned with our goal of reaching a positive final investment decision for Train 4 in the second half of this year," said Matt Schatzman, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.
NextDecade said trains 1 and 2 were about 14% completed, in line with its schedule. Only 1% of that, however, was in real construction, with the bulk of the progress centered around engineering work.
LNG has gained in prominence since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before the war, Europe was heavily dependent on natural gas piped from Russia, including through arteries in Ukraine and through the now-closed, and controversial, Nord Stream network in the Baltic Sea.
European countries with coastal acreage are adapting to LNG in quick fashion. German multinational energy company Uniper (Dusseldorf, Germany) is converting LNG to liquid using an offshore floating, storage and regasification unit, dubbed Hoegh Esperanza.
The ship was parked off the coast of Germany in late 2021. It took less than a year to install the regasification units. Countries such as Poland and Finland have since penned long-term supply agreements for U.S.-sourced LNG.
With its rich inland shale deposits of natural gas, the United States is a world leader in LNG exports. There were 23 vessels laden with LNG that left U.S. export terminals between February 29 and March 6, carrying a combined 87 billion cubic feet of super-cooled gas.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and its allies recently argued against a decision from President Joe Biden to stop issuing new LNG export licenses to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement. The API argued the pause was an "arbitrary" move that's ill-timed considering ongoing geopolitical turmoil, though exports could still double over the next few years because of existing agreements.
"The decision will not affect our forecast for U.S. LNG exports out to 2028, but after that it could affect the trajectory and pace of the sector's growth and have potential to tighten the market in the long run," said Giles Farrer, the head of gas and LNG asset research at Wood Mackenzie.
NextDecade already has offtake options with French energy major TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Paris, France) for supplies from the Rio Grande facility. It also has all the regulatory approvals to proceed with development.
NextDecade estimates the total capital costs for Rio Grande at $18 billion. Industrial Info is tracking eight active NextDecade projects, worth $19.11 billion. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project Database can click here for the project reports.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
NextDecade is building its Rio Grande facility for LNG near the Brownsville shipping channel in south Texas. Its lease includes 15,000 feet of frontage on the channel and it is permitted for as much as 27 million tons of LNG exports per year (MTPA).
The facility could have as many as five liquefaction and purification units, called trains. The company said it has permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for all five trains.
"Our progress remains aligned with our goal of reaching a positive final investment decision for Train 4 in the second half of this year," said Matt Schatzman, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.
NextDecade said trains 1 and 2 were about 14% completed, in line with its schedule. Only 1% of that, however, was in real construction, with the bulk of the progress centered around engineering work.
LNG has gained in prominence since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before the war, Europe was heavily dependent on natural gas piped from Russia, including through arteries in Ukraine and through the now-closed, and controversial, Nord Stream network in the Baltic Sea.
European countries with coastal acreage are adapting to LNG in quick fashion. German multinational energy company Uniper (Dusseldorf, Germany) is converting LNG to liquid using an offshore floating, storage and regasification unit, dubbed Hoegh Esperanza.
The ship was parked off the coast of Germany in late 2021. It took less than a year to install the regasification units. Countries such as Poland and Finland have since penned long-term supply agreements for U.S.-sourced LNG.
With its rich inland shale deposits of natural gas, the United States is a world leader in LNG exports. There were 23 vessels laden with LNG that left U.S. export terminals between February 29 and March 6, carrying a combined 87 billion cubic feet of super-cooled gas.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and its allies recently argued against a decision from President Joe Biden to stop issuing new LNG export licenses to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement. The API argued the pause was an "arbitrary" move that's ill-timed considering ongoing geopolitical turmoil, though exports could still double over the next few years because of existing agreements.
"The decision will not affect our forecast for U.S. LNG exports out to 2028, but after that it could affect the trajectory and pace of the sector's growth and have potential to tighten the market in the long run," said Giles Farrer, the head of gas and LNG asset research at Wood Mackenzie.
NextDecade already has offtake options with French energy major TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Paris, France) for supplies from the Rio Grande facility. It also has all the regulatory approvals to proceed with development.
NextDecade estimates the total capital costs for Rio Grande at $18 billion. Industrial Info is tracking eight active NextDecade projects, worth $19.11 billion. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project Database can click here for the project reports.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
