Scotland-headquartered engineering and consulting company Wood has won a multi-year assignment with Houston-headquartered NextDecade Corporation for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Texas, United States.
The ten-year contract with NextDecade will enable Wood to deliver maintenance solutions at Rio Grande LNG , a natural gas liquefaction and export facility under development near Brownsville, Texas.
The firm will provide comprehensive maintenance services to support safe, reliable operations at the approximately 1,000-acre site. The UK player is currently implementing mechanical integrity programs for the facility and consulting on operational readiness.
Steve Nicol , Executive President of Operations at Wood, commented: “This contract boosts Wood’s position in the US LNG market and reinforces our commitment to supporting the expansion of US LNG export capability. With over 50 years of experience maintaining US Gulf Coast facilities, we will support NextDecade to ensure safe and reliable LNG production in Texas.
“We share NextDecade’s dedication to supporting communities in the Rio Grande Valley. As part of this project, we will open a new office in the area and collaborate with local colleges to attract talent to our apprenticeship programs.”
NextDecade expects the liquefaction and export facility will deliver secure and affordable energy through the safe and efficient development and operation of natural gas liquefaction capacity.
Wood claims that the contract will support the creation of more than 100 new jobs, with a focus on hiring from the local community and investing in U.S. workforce development. This deal comes months after the firm secured a contract extension for work on Equinor’s assets on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
The final investment decision (FID) for Phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project was made in July 2023 when Bechtel won its second go-ahead in three months to proceed with the full construction of the project. The construction officially began in October 2023.
With five trains green-lighted so far, NextDecade recently initiated the pre-filing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the expansion of the project to add a sixth liquefaction train and an additional marine berth.
With approximately 48 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of potential liquefaction capacity currently under construction and in development, it is believed there is sufficient space at the site for up to ten liquefaction trains and a potential carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.