Rio Grande LNG Terminal

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Rio Grande LNG Terminal is a proposed LNG export terminal in Cameron County, Texas, United States.

Location

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Project Details

• Owner: NextDecade, LLC
• Parent: Portfolio LNG Company
• Location: Brownsville, Texas, United States
• Coordinates: 25.950835, -97.410844 (approximate)
• Capacity: 27 mtpa
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Export
• Trains: 3
• Start Year: 2023

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Rio Grande LNG Terminal is a proposed LNG export terminal in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It will have six production trains. The export terminal would supply natural gas to the Rio Bravo pipeline, a proposed pipeline project. In June of 2015, NextDecade,LLC announced that they had raised an additional $85 million for the Rio Grande LNG project, securing NextDecade's access to commence construction of the project upon permitting. In May of 2016, NextDecade filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to site, construct, and operate both the LNG terminal and the Rio Grande Pipeline. FERC's federal authorization decision deadline is set for July 25, 2019.

In May of 2019, NextDecade awarded contracts worth nearly $9.6B to engineering firm Bechtel for engineering, procurement and construction services to build the first phase of the proposed Rio Grande liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Texas Gulf coast. Bechtel says three production units capable of producing up to 17.6M mt/year of LNG, two storage tanks and two marine berths will be in operation by 2023, if the project secures a federal permit and reaches a positive final investment decision. The contracts are the latest step forward for NEXT, which recently won a 20-year LNG supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell and pledged to deepen nearly half of the Brownsville Ship Channel to 52 ft.

In December of 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a formal approval of the project. The Commission also approved, with conditions, the Texas LNG Terminal, the Rio Bravo Gas Pipeline, and the Annova LNG Brownsville Terminal, bringing the total number of FERC-approved project in 2019 to eleven. The Rio Grande LNG Terminal and the associated Rio Bravo Gas Pipeline will export 27 million metric tons of natural gas per year. All four LNG project sponsors have applications pending before the U.S. Department of Energy seeking authorization to export gas to countries without Free Trade Agreements with the United States.