Located in the Port of Brownsville, Texas, Rio Grande LNG is designed with a total capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) distributed across five trains, and promises to become one of the most significant LNG projects in the world. It will connect natural gas from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale to the global LNG market, and become one of the largest and most efficient LNG export facilities in the United States.
XRG will increase its overall participation in Rio Grande by acquiring an additional 7.6 per cent equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 of the project from an acquisition vehicle of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which is a part of BlackRock.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The transaction builds on XRG’s initial investment of acquiring 11.7 per cent stake in Phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project (Trains 1–3), also through GIP. As part of that transaction, ADNOC Trading entered into a 20-year LNG offtake agreement for 1.9 MTPA from Train 4.
XRG reinforces global gas strategy
Mohamed Al Aryani, President of XRG’s International Gas business, said: “Expanding our investment in Rio Grande LNG reinforces XRG’s commitment to delivering on our global gas strategy and advancing the vital role LNG plays in providing reliable and flexible energy supply to international markets.
“The project continues to progress well, with strong construction momentum marking steady steps toward bringing new LNG capacity online.
“By growing our presence in US LNG, we are strengthening a resilient, globally scaled gas platform while further deepening the UAE-US energy partnership, supporting energy security, and creating jobs.”
Trains 4 and 5 each have an expected LNG production capacity of approximately 6 MTPA. Each train has secured long-term LNG offtake agreements with high-credit-quality offtakers, providing strong long-term commercial underpinning for the project.
The Rio Grande LNG project provides more than 5,000 construction jobs and approximately 700 long-term jobs in the Rio Grande Valley.
The transaction further strengthens XRG’s position in the global LNG market and marks an important milestone in the execution of its international gas strategy.
