Rio Grande LNG is investing $6.7B to expand its export terminal in Brownsville – here’s why

Houston-based energy company NextDecade Corp. reached a final investment decision on Thursday to expand its Brownsville LNG export terminal, currently under construction, adding a fifth liquefaction train for $6.7 billion alone. 

Betchel Energy will be the construction company leading the project. Thousands of construction workers in various trades are expected to be hired as temporary workers on the project. 

NextDecade already has a 20-year contract with customers like ConocoPhillips, JERA, and ETQ Corporation for 4.5 million tonnes per annum out of 6 million tonnes to be built as part of the fifth train to be delivered by 2031. NextDecade is financing the deal with a $3.5 billion loan, with the rest as equity stakes from investors like a BlackRock subsidiary. 

Liquefied natural gas is a supercooled product often exported overseas as an alternative energy source to nations without domestic energy extraction industries, such as many European and Asian countries. 

Rio Grande LNG’s export terminal has capacity for 10 liquefaction trains on the sprawling 1,000-acre site, which would be 60 million tonnes per annum of capacity. 

The U.S. is the largest exporter of LNG in the world, with more than 11.9 billion cubic feet of LNG each day in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

That’s because the price of natural gas in America has been low for decades, as opposed to oil, which fetches higher prices on the market and is used in the production of gasoline. 

In January, President Donald Trump removed a moratorium on new export permits for LNG and has issued a flurry of permits for new projects since then, including in Louisiana, a big export hub for LNG.