Port of brownsville: XRG has completed the acquisition of an additional equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 of Rio Grande LNG at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. The transaction deepens XRG's exposure to one of the world's largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities by giving it equity interests across all five trains currently under construction.
According to Emirates News Agency, by completing this transaction, XRG strengthens its strategic presence in the US LNG sector, consistent with its strategy to build a top-tier global gas portfolio, with North America a core growth region. The United States is a strategic region for XRG, supported by abundant resources, rising power demand, AI-led infrastructure growth, reindustrialisation, industrial expansion, and a favourable investment environment.
This investment demonstrates XRG's confidence in the long-term role of US LNG in supporting global energy security. It also reflects the central role the US will continue to play in XRG's global strategy and in strengthening wider US-UAE energy cooperation.
Mohamed Al Aryani, President of XRG's International Gas business, stated that completing this transaction marks an important step in the execution of XRG's global gas strategy and their ambition to build a resilient, integrated, and globally scaled platform across gas, LNG, and chemicals. He emphasized the necessity of reliable energy resources and the infrastructure required to move energy where it is needed, citing Rio Grande LNG as a prime example of a world-class infrastructure project.
Matt Schatzman, NextDecade Chairman and CEO, expressed pleasure in having XRG as a strategic investor across all five trains at Rio Grande LNG. He highlighted that this investment reflects strong confidence in the quality and scale of Rio Grande LNG and reinforces their ability to deliver a world-class LNG facility.
With this transaction, XRG increased its overall participation in Rio Grande LNG, operated by NextDecade, by acquiring an additional 7.6% equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 from Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of BlackRock. This builds on XRG's initial investment in Rio Grande LNG, where the company acquired an indirect 11.7% stake in Phase 1, including Trains 1, 2, and 3. The transaction received all customary regulatory approvals, including clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
XRG's North American portfolio already includes significant positions across LNG, chemicals, and advanced materials, including Rio Grande LNG, and Borouge International's platform through NOVA Chemicals. Together, Trains 4 and 5 are expected to have a total LNG production capacity of approximately 12 MTPA, with each train securing long-term LNG offtake agreements with high-credit-quality customers, providing strong commercial underpinning for the project.
Rio Grande LNG significantly contributes to the U.S. economy, providing around 7,500 construction jobs during peak construction and approximately 700 long-term jobs in the Rio Grande Valley once the facility is operational. The project, with approximately 30 million tonnes per annum of liquefaction capacity, is expected to begin production in the first half of 2027, with first gas into the facility in the second half of 2026. As part of XRG's initial investment, ADNOC Trading entered a 20-year LNG offtake agreement for 1.9 MTPA from Train 4, further strengthening the project's long-term commercial underpinning.
XRG's gas strategy connects advantaged supply with growing demand centres, providing an integrated view of the value chain from upstream resources and processing to pipelines, LNG, regasification, power, chemicals, and industrial end markets. This approach allows XRG to identify value across the system, including the infrastructure, partnerships, and route-to-market capabilities required to deliver molecules to customers reliably and at scale.
