Rio Grande LNG: Owners, Capacity and Timeline

Last updated: October 14, 2026

Rio Grande LNG is a liquefied natural gas export terminal under construction on the Brownsville Ship Channel in south Texas, developed by NextDecade Corporation. Five liquefaction trains — representing roughly 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of capacity — are under construction with backing from TotalEnergies and a group of financial investors, and since 2025 ADNOC’s international investment arm, XRG, has built an equity position across all five trains, most recently completing a stake increase in Trains 4 and 5 in July 2026.

Project Snapshot

Ownership Structure

Rio Grande LNG’s ownership is split by train rather than held as a single project-wide capital structure, and has changed as each train reached FID:

• Phase 1 (Trains 1–3) — Sanctioned via FID in July 2023. NextDecade holds equity entitling it to up to approximately 20.8% of Phase 1 cash flows (with a majority of that paid only after its partners, the “Financial Investors,” reach an agreed return threshold). The Financial Investors — GIP (described as the majority investor), GIC and Mubadala Investment Company — collectively hold equity entitling them to a minimum of roughly 62.5% of cash flows, and TotalEnergies holds equity for approximately 16.7% (TotalEnergies’ own figure; NextDecade’s original 2023 framework cited 16.67%). GIP’s roughly $5.9 billion in combined financial-investor commitments backed this phase.
• Train 4 — Sanctioned via FID in September 2025 at an estimated $6.7 billion total cost. NextDecade holds a 40% interest (rising to 60% once its partners earn a specified return); TotalEnergies holds a 10% direct participating interest plus an indirect share through its approximately 17.1% stake in NextDecade; GIP holds 36.9%, GIC 7.9% and Mubadala 5.2%.
• Train 5 — Sanctioned via FID on October 16, 2025, also at an estimated $6.7 billion, with full notice to proceed issued to Bechtel the same day. NextDecade holds a 50% interest in Train 5, rising to 70% once its partners earn a specified return; as of this writing TDE could not confirm individually disclosed Train 5 percentages for TotalEnergies, GIP, GIC and Mubadala comparable to the Train 4 breakdown.
• XRG (ADNOC) — XRG, ADNOC’s international low-carbon energy, gas and chemicals investment arm, first acquired an indirect 11.7% stake in Phase 1 (Trains 1–3) through a Global Infrastructure Partners vehicle; reporting on the exact deal date is inconsistent across outlets (bne IntelliNews dates the acquisition to September 2025, while Gas Outlook describes ADNOC’s own announcement as coming on May 20, 2026). In January 2026, XRG agreed to buy an additional 7.6% equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 — also from a GIP-managed vehicle — and completed that transaction on July 2, 2026 after customary regulatory approvals, including clearance from the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). XRG now holds equity exposure across all five trains under construction. XRG’s International Gas president, Mohamed Al Aryani, called the project “a textbook example of a world-class infrastructure project,” while NextDecade Chairman and CEO Matt Schatzman said the company was “pleased to have XRG as a strategic investor across all five trains at Rio Grande LNG.”

This mirrors the pattern TDE has tracked at ADNOC’s own Ruwais LNG terminal and the Absheron gas field in Azerbaijan: XRG using minority equity stakes to build a diversified international gas portfolio outside the UAE, while NextDecade and TotalEnergies retain board and operating control domestically.

Technology & Scale

Rio Grande LNG sits on about 1,000 acres on the north shore of the Brownsville Ship Channel near the Port of Brownsville, with site permits covering up to 10 liquefaction trains in total. Bechtel Energy Inc. holds fully wrapped, lump-sum turnkey EPC contracts across all five trains currently under construction, which NextDecade’s Q2 2026 business update (July 30, 2026) describes as progressing ahead of the EPC-guaranteed schedule and within budget. As of that update, combined Trains 1–2 progress stood at 74.0% complete overall (engineering 99.1%, procurement 97.8%, construction 58.9%, commissioning 0.6%), Train 3 at 50.4% complete (construction 17.4%), Train 4 at 15.5% complete, and Train 5 at 9.4% complete. All major equipment had been installed for Train 1, with Train 2’s major-equipment installation underway. Beyond the five trains under construction, NextDecade initiated the pre-filing regulatory process for a further expansion (Trains 6–8, roughly 18 mtpa combined) in November 2025.

Financing & Offtake

Each train has been financed separately as it reached FID, rather than through one project-wide facility: Phase 1 closed in 2023 with roughly $5.9 billion of financial-investor commitments; Train 4 and Train 5 were each sanctioned in 2025 at an estimated $6.7 billion in total capital cost, with dedicated full notices to proceed issued to Bechtel at each FID.

Long-term offtake agreements publicly disclosed to date include:

• ADNOC — a 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for 1.9 mtpa from Train 4, delivered free-on-board (FOB) at a price indexed to the US Henry Hub benchmark.
• TotalEnergies — a standalone 20-year SPA for 1.5 mtpa, FOB and Henry Hub-indexed, in addition to separate volumes TotalEnergies is entitled to under its roughly 5.4 mtpa Phase 1 equity-linked offtake.
• JERA (Japan) — a 20-year SPA for 2 mtpa, announced in May 2025 as anchor offtake ahead of Train 5’s October 2025 FID.
• Saudi Aramco — reported at approximately 1.2 mtpa tied to Train 4, per trade-press reporting TDE could not independently confirm against a primary Aramco or NextDecade source at the time of writing.

The Henry Hub-indexed pricing on the ADNOC and TotalEnergies SPAs is notable for XRG specifically: it gives ADNOC’s international arm exposure to US gas-price benchmarks, distinct from the oil-indexed LNG pricing more typical of ADNOC’s own Gulf-based Ruwais LNG offtake contracts.

Timeline & Status

Status label: Under construction across all five sanctioned trains (as of NextDecade’s Q2 2026 business update, July 30, 2026); verify current completion percentages against NextDecade’s own quarterly investor updates before citing in a financial context, as these figures are reported quarterly and change quickly.

Why It Matters

Rio Grande LNG is one of the clearest examples of a Gulf national oil company building a direct equity position in US LNG rather than only buying cargoes under offtake contracts. XRG’s move from an 11.7% Phase 1 stake to full exposure across all five trains under construction — completed in July 2026 alongside ADNOC’s own Henry Hub-indexed offtake deal for Train 4 — gives ADNOC both an ownership stake in, and a long-term gas supply contract from, the same US facility, diversifying its LNG portfolio geographically and price-wise away from the oil-indexed contracts typical of its home-market Ruwais LNG project. For NextDecade and its US financial partners, each successive FID (Train 4, then Train 5) has brought in additional non-US capital — Gulf sovereign and state-linked investors alongside the French major TotalEnergies — to fund one of the largest LNG build-outs on the US Gulf Coast.

Related Entities

• ADNOC — parent of XRG, which holds equity across all five Rio Grande LNG trains and a Henry Hub-indexed offtake agreement for Train 4
• Ruwais LNG — ADNOC’s own domestic LNG export terminal, offering a direct comparison between XRG’s international equity investments and ADNOC’s home-market LNG build-out
• Absheron Full Field Development — another XRG-held international gas project, this one in Azerbaijan alongside TotalEnergies and SOCAR
• Saudi Aramco — reported Train 4 offtaker at approximately 1.2 mtpa
• NextDecade Corporation — the project’s US developer and operator (profile forthcoming on TDE)
• TotalEnergies — equity partner across Phase 1, Train 4 and a standalone 1.5 mtpa offtake agreement (profile forthcoming on TDE)
• TDE Investments hub
• TDE Oil & Gas hub

Sources

• NextDecade Corporation — Form 10-K, FY2025 (SEC EDGAR)
• NextDecade — Second Quarter 2026 Business Update (July 30, 2026)
• WAM (Emirates News Agency) — XRG Strengthens US LNG Position With Second Rio Grande LNG Transaction Completion
• Marine Link / OE Digital — ADNOC’s XRG Expands Stake in Rio Grande LNG Project in Texas
• bne IntelliNews — UAE’s XRG Buys Stake in Trains 4 and 5 of Rio Grande LNG
• Hart Energy — ADNOC Buys 11.7% Stake in NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG Project
• Hydrocarbon Engineering — TotalEnergies Reaches FID on Rio Grande LNG Train 4
• Oil & Gas Journal — Rio Grande LNG Takes FID Targeting 2027 Commissioning

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns Rio Grande LNG?

Ownership is split by train. NextDecade holds cash-flow entitlements ranging from about 20.8% (Phase 1) to 40–60% (Train 4) and 50–70% (Train 5); TotalEnergies, Global Infrastructure Partners, GIC and Mubadala Investment Company hold most of the remaining Phase 1 and Train 4 equity; and XRG, ADNOC’s international investment arm, holds equity across all five trains after completing a stake increase in Trains 4 and 5 in July 2026.

What is XRG’s stake in Rio Grande LNG?

XRG first acquired an indirect 11.7% stake in Phase 1 (Trains 1–3), reported as agreed around September 2025. In January 2026 it agreed to buy an additional 7.6% interest in Trains 4 and 5, completing that purchase on July 2, 2026 after regulatory approvals including US CFIUS clearance, giving it equity exposure across the full five-train project.

How much LNG will Rio Grande LNG produce?

NextDecade’s 2026 investor disclosures describe approximately 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefaction capacity under construction across the five sanctioned trains, with a further roughly 18 mtpa (Trains 6–8) in permitting and site capacity for up to 10 trains in total.

When will Rio Grande LNG start production?

NextDecade targets first gas into the facility in the second half of 2026 and first LNG production from Train 1 in the first half of 2027. As of its July 2026 update, Trains 1–2 were 74.0% complete overall, Train 3 was 50.4% complete, and Trains 4 and 5 were at earlier stages of construction.

Who is buying LNG from Rio Grande LNG?

Disclosed long-term buyers include ADNOC (1.9 mtpa from Train 4), TotalEnergies (1.5 mtpa under a standalone SPA), Japan’s JERA (2 mtpa) and, per trade-press reporting, Saudi Aramco (approximately 1.2 mtpa from Train 4).

Illustrative image. Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source