US liquefaction plant developer NextDecade said Monday it still expects to take a final investment decision this year to build its proposed Rio Grande LNG export plant in Texas.
The firm announced this in a statement saying it has completed a “pricing refresh” with engineering giant Bechtel on the lump-sum turnkey EPC agreements for the first three trains at the LNG project.
According to NextDecade, the move resulted in no impact to the overall cost of the project.
In addition, the pricing in the EPC agreements is now valid until December 31, 2021, it said.
Moreover, NextDecade and Bechtel agreed to extend the validity of the EPC agreements until July 31, 2022.
To remind, the duo signed two deals back in 2019. The EPC contracts are for the first phase of the LNG project, which consists of three liquefaction trains, two 180,000 cubic meter storage tanks and two marine berths totaling $9.56 billion.
NextDecade also in the meantime changed the design of the project scrapping one train out of the total six, but the output stayed the same.
The full-scope of the Rio Grande project now includes five trains for a total capacity of 27 million tonnes per year.
NextDecade said on Monday it anticipates achieving a final investment decision on a “minimum of two trains” at Rio Grande LNG in 2021.
“Our global LNG customers, feed gas suppliers, and other stakeholders can have the utmost confidence in the on-time and on-budget delivery of our Rio Grande LNG project,” said Matt Schatzman, NextDecade’s chief executive.
“We are pleased to continue to progress our engineering and procurement activities under limited notices to proceed, and we look forward to providing Bechtel with a full notice to proceed with the development of this world-class project immediately following FID,” he said.