TotalEnergies and partners have taken final investment decision on Train 4 of the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas, the company said on Wednesday.
The company signed an agreement to acquire a 10% direct stake in the joint venture developing the train and will offtake 1.5 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. Through its 17.1% stake in NextDecade, it also indirectly holds nearly 7% of the train.
The project partners include NextDecade (40%), Global Infrastructure Partners (36.9%), GIC (7.9%) and Mubadala (5.2%). The new train, expected online in 2030, will add 6 million tpy of capacity, bringing the total to 24 million tpy.
The project will be financed with 40% equity and 60% debt. A long-term sales and purchase agreement had previously been signed for TotalEnergies to offtake LNG from Train 4 for 20 years.
TotalEnergies already holds a 16.7% interest in Phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project, which includes three trains due to start operations in 2027 and will supply 5.4 million tpy.
“This project from which we will offtake 1.5 Mtpa strengthens our LNG export capacity from the United States,” TotalEnergies president of gas, renewables & power Stéphane Michel said.
NextDecade chairman and CEO Matt Schatzman added: “LNG exported by TotalEnergies from our project will provide affordable, reliable and secure energy to customers around the world.”
TotalEnergies is the world’s third-largest LNG player with a global portfolio of 40 million tpy in 2024. It is active across the LNG value chain from production to trading and aims to increase the share of natural gas in its sales mix to nearly 50% by 2030.
In the USA, TotalEnergies is expanding its LNG portfolio through key projects including Rio Grande LNG, supporting its goal to reach over 16 million tpy of export capacity by 2030.
Source: theenergyyear.com