NextDecade Corporation signed two fully wrapped lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) contracts with Bechtel Oil, Gas, and Chemical for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of NextDecade’s Rio Grande Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Brownsville, Texas.
The contracts are for the first phase of the project, consisting of three liquefaction trains, two 180,00 cubic meter storage tanks, and two marine berths totaling $9.565 billion. Each train will have a capacity of 5.87 million tons per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas, with an EPC cost of about $543 per ton.
The contracts include site preparation activities which are expected to further reduce the cost per ton. NextDecade will have the ability to have Bechtel commence construction of the first phase of Rio Grande LNG with either two or three trains. Bechtel will perform limited notice to proceed activities from June 1, 2019 until January 1, 2020 and has agreed to accept up to $15 million in NextDecade common stock in consideration for certain activities.
“We are pleased to be working with Bechtel, who is responsible for constructing about 30 percent of the world’s LNG capacity,” said Matt Schatzman, NextDecade’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Bechtel’s extensive experience developing LNG projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast, along with our advantaged site and technology choices, including Air Products C3MR and Baker Hughes GE rotating equipment, is expected to enable NextDecade – in just the first three trains – to have the lowest cost per ton greenfield LNG project built on the U.S. Gulf Coast under a fully wrapped lump-sum turnkey EPC contract.”
NextDecade anticipates making a positive final investment decision (FID) on up to three trains of the Rio Grande LNG project as early as the end of Q3 2019 and commencing operations in 2023.
