[USA] Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG)

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TotalEnergies and its Partners Make the Final Investment Decision of the RGLNG Project in Texas

13 July 2023



Paris, July 13, 2023 – TotalEnergies, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) NextDecade Corporation, and their partners, GIC and Mubadala, made the final investment decision (FID) to develop phase 1 of Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG), a natural gas liquefaction (LNG) project in South Texas.

This first phase comprises 3 liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 17.5 million tons per annum (Mtpa) and CAPEX of $14.8 billion. The Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract has been awarded to Bechtel, and commissioning of the plant is scheduled for 2027. The project will be financed by equity contributions from the partners and by a debt contribution concluded today with an international banks’ consortium.

As a result of this decision, and according to the terms of the agreement signed in June, TotalEnergies:

• acquires a 16.67% stake in the joint-venture in charge of this first phase, and will participate in its equity contributions, for a total amount of $1.1 billion.

• will hold a total 17.5% stake in NextDecade for a total amount of $219 million. A first tranche of 5.06% was acquired last June, and a second tranche will be acquired in the next few days to increase this stake to 12.47% and a third tranche of 5.03 % shall be acquired before the end of the year.

• TotalEnergies will also offtake 5.4 Mtpa of LNG from the production of this phase for 20 years.

“We are delighted with this final investment decision that enables us to launch the construction of this new LNG liquefaction plant in the Unites States, to which TotalEnergies will contribute its expertise in the development of major LNG projects,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies. “This project gives TotalEnergies access to competitive LNG thanks to its low production costs. LNG from this first phase will boost TotalEnergies U.S. LNG export capacity to over 15 Mtpa by 2030, and thus our ability to contribute to European gas security, and to provide customers in Asia with an alternative form of energy that is half as emissive as coal.”

“Having TotalEnergies as a key partner in the Rio Grande LNG project is an honor. Their long-standing reputation as a leader in the LNG and energy industry makes this a great partnership,” said Matt Schatzman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NextDecade. “Working together with TotalEnergies, we will be able to fulfill our mission to deliver lower carbon-intensive LNG to customers around the globe and we look forward to working together as construction on Phase 1 of Rio Grande LNG begins.”

Rio Grande LNG is the FIRST AND ONLY U.S. LNG project offering CO2 emissions reduction of more than 90 percent via planned carbon capture and storage – capturing and permanently storing more than 5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to removing more than one million vehicles from the road annually.

NextDecade plans to develop one of the largest CCS projects in North America and Rio Grande LNG is slated to be:

• First LNG project committed to reducing CO2 emissions by more than 90 precent utilizing CCS

• First LNG project planning to capture and store CO2 from gas pre-treatment and exhaust gas

• First and only LNG project to disclose its expected all-in costs of deploying CCS

• First LNG project to offer a fixed-cost carbon solution throughout the LNG contract term

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Baker Hughes to Supply 3 Liquefaction Trains for NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG Project

HOUSTON and LONDON, July 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Baker Hughes (NASDAQ: BKR), an energy technology company, announced Thursday it has been awarded an order by Bechtel Energy Inc. (Bechtel) – to be booked in the second quarter of 2023 – to supply three Main Refrigerant Compressors (MRCs) for NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project in the Port of Brownsville, Texas.

In total, Baker Hughes will supply six Frame 7 gas turbines paired with 18 centrifugal compressors across Rio Grande’s first three LNG trains in a parallel configuration arrangement, providing more operational flexibility – for a nameplate capacity of 17.61 MTPA.

“This order builds on our longstanding relationship with Bechtel and is a significant milestone in our partnership with NextDecade, supporting them on this key LNG project,” said Ganesh Ramaswamy, executive vice president of Industrial & Energy Technology at Baker Hughes. “We are delighted that our proven and reliable technology solution will support the production of LNG in the U.S., which is crucial in balancing energy affordability, security and sustainability globally.”

The Baker Hughes gas technology solution chosen for Rio Grande LNG provides NextDecade with the highest production levels for the plant’s design, as well as operational flexibility and high availability. The Frame 7 gas turbine is well-proven for its energy efficiency, availability, reliability and maintainability.

Packaging of the turbine/compressor train, a unique Baker Hughes offering, as well as assembly of the compressors and testing of the trains, will take place at Baker Hughes’ facilities in Italy.

Building on almost 40 years of experience in the LNG space, Baker Hughes continues to help meet global energy demand by providing advanced, efficient and reliable solutions for the U.S. natural gas export sector. The announcement follows another recent contract awarded by Bechtel to Baker Hughes to supply two liquefaction trains for another LNG project in Texas, announced in March 2023.