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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Pointing to "excellent" demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ:NEXT) (Houston, Texas) said it was incentivized to push two more liquefaction units at its Rio Grande export facility toward a final investment decision.
NextDecade plans for an initial five-train facility that would have a peak processing capacity of 3.73 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project and Plant databases can learn more from detailed project reports and a plant profile.
The company's plans were put on hold after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned approval of the facility last year due to a lack of a suitable environmental impact statement (EIS). NextDecade in October filed a petition for a rehearing and by early April had prepared a draft EIS to address the decision, clearing a regulatory pathway toward approval.
On Tuesday, Matt Schatzman, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said expansion plans were in the works already and progress on the first phase of the facility is on schedule and on budget.
"We continue to see excellent demand for U.S. LNG, which will help us commercialize Train 5 and advance both Trains 4 and 5 toward positive final investment decisions (FIDs)," he said.
The International Energy Agency has warned that it expects the increase in LNG export capacity to outpace demand, creating a market surplus that could eat into gas prices and margins. Low prices for Henry Hub, the U.S. benchmark for the price of natural gas, last year caused financial harm to many in the energy sector.
But in its monthly report for May, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the data arm of the Energy Department, said it expects natural gas prices to move higher this year due to increased summer demand from the power sector and increased exports of LNG, which eat into domestic supplies.
Schatzman added that he was working with Bechtel (Reston, Virginia) to update its engineering contract for the fourth train at Rio Grande, with the financing process to follow. Contractual negotiations for Train 5 are under way, he added.
Trains 1 and 2 are about 42% completed, in line with scheduling.
TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) holds a minority stake in Rio Grande and already has offtake agreements from other trains. The 20-year agreement marks NextDecade's second contract this year, after signing a delivery deal with Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).
With an expected average of 14 Bcf/d in LNG exports, the United States is the world leader. The EIA said in its May report that it expected the capacity to increase over the next few years as new facilities come online.
"As a result, we forecast LNG exports to increase 22% in 2025 and 10% in 2026," EIA analysts wrote in a report published Tuesday. "Additional growth in natural gas demand comes from pipeline exports, which are forecast to increase by 8% in 2025 and 7% in 2026."
Energy was largely spared in U.S. President Donald Trump's barrage of global tariffs, though his trade policies are undermining global growth. At home, EIA analyst revised their forecast for real GDP expansion lower by 0.5% to 1.5% in 2025. Growth next year is forecast at 1.6%, a 0.4% reduction from the April forecast.
Total LNG exports are expected to average 14 Bcf/d this year and increase to 16 Bcf/d by next year, though forecasts are fluid as the EIA said the newly launched Plaquemines facility from Venture Global LNG (NYSE:VG) (Arlington, Virginia) was performing better than expected so far.
Data from IIR Energy show the amount of natural gas showing up at domestic liquefaction plants was subdued at around 14 Bcf/d this week due to a maintenance on a pipeline feeding the Cameron LNG facility, led by Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California), and an unspecified power issue at Freeport, operated by Venture Global.
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 plans for an initial five-train facility that would have a peak processing capacity of 3.73 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project and Plant databases can learn more from detailed project reports and a plant profile.
The company's plans were put on hold after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned approval of the facility last year due to a lack of a suitable environmental impact statement (EIS). NextDecade in October filed a petition for a rehearing and by early April had prepared a draft EIS to address the decision, clearing a regulatory pathway toward approval.
On Tuesday, Matt Schatzman, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said expansion plans were in the works already and progress on the first phase of the facility is on schedule and on budget.
"We continue to see excellent demand for U.S. LNG, which will help us commercialize Train 5 and advance both Trains 4 and 5 toward positive final investment decisions (FIDs)," he said.
The International Energy Agency has warned that it expects the increase in LNG export capacity to outpace demand, creating a market surplus that could eat into gas prices and margins. Low prices for Henry Hub, the U.S. benchmark for the price of natural gas, last year caused financial harm to many in the energy sector.
But in its monthly report for May, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the data arm of the Energy Department, said it expects natural gas prices to move higher this year due to increased summer demand from the power sector and increased exports of LNG, which eat into domestic supplies.
Schatzman added that he was working with Bechtel (Reston, Virginia) to update its engineering contract for the fourth train at Rio Grande, with the financing process to follow. Contractual negotiations for Train 5 are under way, he added.
Trains 1 and 2 are about 42% completed, in line with scheduling.
TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) holds a minority stake in Rio Grande and already has offtake agreements from other trains. The 20-year agreement marks NextDecade's second contract this year, after signing a delivery deal with Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).
With an expected average of 14 Bcf/d in LNG exports, the United States is the world leader. The EIA said in its May report that it expected the capacity to increase over the next few years as new facilities come online.
"As a result, we forecast LNG exports to increase 22% in 2025 and 10% in 2026," EIA analysts wrote in a report published Tuesday. "Additional growth in natural gas demand comes from pipeline exports, which are forecast to increase by 8% in 2025 and 7% in 2026."
Energy was largely spared in U.S. President Donald Trump's barrage of global tariffs, though his trade policies are undermining global growth. At home, EIA analyst revised their forecast for real GDP expansion lower by 0.5% to 1.5% in 2025. Growth next year is forecast at 1.6%, a 0.4% reduction from the April forecast.
Total LNG exports are expected to average 14 Bcf/d this year and increase to 16 Bcf/d by next year, though forecasts are fluid as the EIA said the newly launched Plaquemines facility from Venture Global LNG (NYSE:VG) (Arlington, Virginia) was performing better than expected so far.
Data from IIR Energy show the amount of natural gas showing up at domestic liquefaction plants was subdued at around 14 Bcf/d this week due to a maintenance on a pipeline feeding the Cameron LNG facility, led by Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California), and an unspecified power issue at Freeport, operated by Venture Global.
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).
