Image courtesy of NextDecade
US LNG export project developer NextDecade Corporation has pushed its expected final investment decision on its Rio Grande LNG project in Brownsville, Texas, to the fourth quarter of the year.
In its previous statements, the company expected to reach a final investment decision on the 27 mtpa project by the end of September.
However, in its latest investor presentation, NextDecade said it anticipated finalizing important commercial and regulatory milestones during the third and fourth quarters of 2019 prior to an anticipated FID in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In April this year, NextDecade signed a 20-year sale and purchase agreement with Shell for the supply of up to 2 mtpa of LNG from its Rio Grande export project.
Later in May, the company contracted Bechtel for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the project.
The EPC contracts are for the first phase of the Rio Grande LNG project, which consists of three liquefaction trains each with a 5.87 million tons per annum of LNG production capacity, two 180,000 cubic meter storage tanks and two marine berths.
According to the latest investor presentation, NextDecade still expects to start commercial operations at the Rio Grande LNG project in 2023.