US’ NextDecade lines up LNG buyers

US LNG player NextDecade has signed preliminary agreements with Asian and European buyers to sell a total of 14 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG ahead of the planned 2020 opening of its Rio Grande LNG export terminal in South Texas, the company said in a press release on Thursday.

The non-binding contracts cover a 20-year period beginning in 2020, and pave the way for future fully-termed sales and purchase agreements. The agreements add momentum to the development of the proposed export facility in Brownsville, on which a final investment decision is expected for early 2017. NextDecade recently raised $85 million for the project, and plans to float stock in 2016 in order to raise further capital.

NextDecade said the agreements also mark a positive step for its proposed Pelican Island LNG export terminal on Galveston Island. In September 2014, the Port of Galveston agreed to put aside a 750,000 square-metre site while the company explores the project’s feasability. The same site had been given to BP in the mid-2000s for an undeveloped LNG facility.

The Rio Grange terminal is being designed with six liquefaction trains, each with a capacity of 4.5 million tpy, making a total capacity of 27 million tpy. NextDecade is aiming for an initial production rate in 2020 of 9 million tpy.

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