NextDecade: US court revises FERC’s order for Rio Grande LNG

In August 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued the order vacating FERC’s remand authorization of NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG facility and the pipeline saying that the FERC should have issued a supplemental EIS during its remand process.

After that, FERC announced in September 2024 that it will prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement for NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project.

“We are pleased with today’s revised Court judgment, which ensures construction at the Rio Grande LNG facility will not be impacted by the Court,” said Matt Schatzman, NextDecade’s chairman and CEO.

“This is an excellent outcome for NextDecade’s shareholders, our partners in the project, the local community, and our customers. We look forward to continuing our work with FERC through the reauthorization process for our project,” he said.

NextDecade is currently building three trains at the site located on the north shore of the Brownsville Ship Channel in south Texas.

In July 2023, NextDecade took the final investment decision on the first three Rio Grande trains and completed a $18.4 billion project financing.

NextDecade awarded the $12 billion EPC contract to Bechtel, and it officially kicked off work on the plant in October 2023.

The company recently said it is also making “excellent” progress on commercializing Rio Grande LNG trains 4 and 5.

In addition, NwxtDecade announced plans to build up to five more trains at the Rio Grande LNG facility.

NextDecade said it is developing and beginning the permitting process for trains 6 through 8, which are wholly owned by NextDecade and are cumulatively expected to increase the company’s total liquefaction capacity by approximately 18 million tonnes per annum once constructed and placed into operation.