TotalEnergies will buy a 17.5% stake in U.S. liquefied natural gas developer NextDecade for $219 million, the French group said on June 14, part of a broader deal to enable the Texas company's Rio Grande LNG export project to proceed.
Shares of NextDecade rose 12.3% to $5.76 in premarket trading.
NextDecade said it had entered into framework agreements with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and TotalEnergies to facilitate the final investment decision for the Rio Grande LNG project, expected to be confirmed by the end of June.
Demand for U.S. LNG increased after several countries slowed purchases of Russian energy and imposed sanctions on Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, prompting a race to bring more U.S. export terminals online.
"Our involvement in this project will add 5.4 million tons per year of LNG to our global portfolio, strengthening our ability to ensure Europe's security of gas supply, and to provide our Asian customers with an alternative fuel to coal," TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said.
The French energy major is the world's third largest LNG player, with a roughly 12% market share and global portfolio of about 50 million tons of LNG per year.
It has said it aims to grow its LNG business 3% annually, and expects natural gas to account for half of all its energy sales by 2030.
British rival Shell has also announced plans to grow its natural gas business and defend its position as the top global LNG player.
The Rio Grande LNG export plant in south Texas has been in development for several years, suffering repeated delays after lead financier Societe Generale left the project in 2022 under pressure from climate and indigenous activists.
NextDecade plans for it to produce up to 27 million tons of LNG annually, with a carbon sequestration component to the project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Texas company has deals to supply LNG to Japan's Itochu , oil majors Shell and Exxon Mobil, France's ENGIE and China's ENN.
Recommended Reading
Petrobras Awards SLB Another Contract Offshore Brazil
2024-12-12 - Petrobras has awarded JV SLB OneSubsea a contract for raw water injection systems a day after Petrobras selected SLB to handle integrated services at its offshore fields.
Freshly Public New Era Touts Net-Zero NatGas Permian Data Centers
2024-12-11 - New Era Helium and Sharon AI have signed a letter of intent for a joint venture to develop and operate a 250-megawatt data center in the Permian Basin.
Northern’s O’Grady: Most of ‘Best’ Acres ‘Already Been Bought’
2024-10-24 - Adding new-well inventory going forward will require “exploration or other creative measures,” said Nick O’Grady, whose Northern Oil and Gas holds interests in 10,000 Lower 48 wells.
Liberty Energy, DC Grid to Collaborate on Turnkey Power Solutions
2025-01-08 - Liberty Energy’s power solutions and DC Grid’s direct current systems will offer rapidly deployed, scalable and sustainable power for data centers, among other uses.
DNO Discovers Oil in New Play Offshore Norway
2024-12-02 - DNO ASA estimated gross recoverable resources in the range of 27 MMboe to 57 MMboe.
Comments
Add new comment
This conversation is moderated according to Hart Energy community rules. Please read the rules before joining the discussion. If you’re experiencing any technical problems, please contact our customer care team.