NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG has chartered two liquefied natural gas carriers from NYSE-listed Dynagas LNG Partners.
The limited partnership formed by Greek shipowner Dynagas said in a statement on Thursday that the new time charter party agreements will add about $270 million to its existing revenue backlog.
Under the first charter deal, the 2007-built 149,700-cbm, Clean Energy, will start serving NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG between March-May 2026 following the expiration of the existing time charter with Germany’s SEFE Marketing & Trading.
This charter will last for about two years.
As per the second deal, the 2013-built 155,000-cbm, Arctic Aurora, has been employed for a time charter period of about 7 years.
Dynagas LNG Partners said this charter will start between September-November 2026 following the expiration of the existing deal with Norway’s Equinor.
Equinor has been using Arctic Aurora to ship LNG since its delivery in 2013 and the firm extended its charter deal for three more years in December last year.
NextDecade on Wednesday announced a final investment decision on the first three trains of its Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas.
The $18.4 billion project financing for RGLNG Phase 1 is the largest greenfield energy project financing in US history, the firm claims.
Phase 1, with nameplate liquefaction capacity of 17.6 MTPA, has 16.2 MTPA of long-term binding LNG sale and purchase agreements.
These include deals with TotalEnergies, Shell, ENN, Engie, ExxonMobil, Guangdong Energy Group, China Gas Hongda Energy Trading, Galp, and Itochu.