TotalEnergies has confirmed its commitment to the expansion of liquefied natural gas liquefied natural gas in the United States after finalizing the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the fourth liquefaction train at the Rio Grande LNG plant, located in South Texas.
The French company acquired a direct 10% stake in the project, in addition to an indirect stake of close to 7% through its position as a shareholder of NextDecade.
This fourth train will have a capacity of approximately 6 million tons per annum (Mtpa), bringing the total export capacity of the complex to approximately 24 Mtpa by 2030. The financing will be structured with a combination of 40% equity and 60% debt.
Rio Grande LNG production
According to TotalEnergiesthe agreement will give it access to 1.5 Mtpa of the LNG produced by Train 4, strengthening its presence in the US market. This will bring the company’s total LNG export capacity from the US to more than 16 Mtpa by 2030, consolidating its goal of maintaining a 10% global market share.
The project is owned by NextDecade (40%), Global Infrastructure Partners (36.9%), GIC (7.9%) and Mubadala (5.2%), in addition to TotalEnergies. Rio Grande LNG Phase 1, which is already under construction, includes three additional trains scheduled to start operations in 2027. TotalEnergies also owns 16.7% of this first stage, from which it will receive 5.4 Mtpa.
Stéphane Michel, President of TotalEnergies’ Gas, Renewables and Power division, highlighted that the project’s low production cost offers a relevant competitive advantage. For his part, NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman underscored the impact of the agreement in ensuring affordable and reliable energy supply on an international scale.
Source and photo: TotalEnergies
