BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The liquefied natural gas export terminal project under construction at the Port of Brownsville is running ahead of schedule and under budget, company representatives said.
The five refrigeration containers, or trains, are expected to cost more than $30 billion and the first shipment of the commodity is set to go out of the area sometime in 2027.
By contrast, when Houston-based NextDecade Corporation announced the project back in 2023, phase one called for an investment of close to $19 billion. Its project at the Port of Brownsville is known as Rio Grande LNG.
Three years later, the numbers have increased considerably but that is within budget projections as the project moves along.
The new figures put the project under budget and ahead of schedule.
Susan Richardson, a senior director of corporate communications, and Marc Palazzo, senior vice president of policy and corporate affairs, and others with NextDecade gave a project update during an open house.
“We are pretty pleased about how things are going,” Palazzo said. “The LNG project now employs about 7,000 people.”
That is as close as it can get with the company’s goal of having as many as 7,500 people working at the peak of the project’s construction.
Richardson and Andrea Benton, director of community relations with NextDecade/Rio Grande LNG, said the first gas shipment is on scheduled for next year.
In addition to the five trains are under construction at the port, three more are in the planning stages and the finances are in place and the land available to have as many as 10 trains altogether.
The project is under construction on 42 acres of land belonging to the Brownsville Navigation District along Texas Highway 48.
The open house, held Thursday, Oct. 15 at Texas Southmost College’s ITEC Center, included a demonstration about the qualities and safety of liquefied natural gas.
Natural gas (primarily methane) is cooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit (-162°C) to convert it into Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Liquefaction typically occurs within a range of -256°F to -260°F (-160°C to -162°C) at atmospheric pressure. At these temperatures, the gas shrinks to about 1/600th of its original volume, making it vastly easier and safer to store and transport across ocean routes.
Meanwhile, NextDecade Corporation is slated to host a conference call and webcast on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss developments from the third quarter of 2026.
