Enbridge to buy Rio Grande LNG feeder pipeline

US LNG export project developer NextDecade Corporation signed a deal with Enbridge under which the latter will acquire Rio Bravo Pipeline Company. 

The acquisition of the pipeline that will supply feed gas to NextDecade’s proposed Rio Grande LNG export facility in the Port of Brownsville, Texas, has a price tag of $25 million, NextDecade in its statement.

Enbridge has agreed to pay $15 million at the closing of the acquisition expected in the first quarter of 2020 and the balance paid upon NextDecade’s reaching a positive final investment decision (FID) on its Rio Grande LNG project.

Upon closing of the transaction, Enbridge will own 100 percent of RBPL and assume all responsibility for the development, financing, construction, and operations of the Rio Bravo Pipeline.

NextDecade will continue to be responsible for the development, financing, construction, and operations of its Rio Grande LNG export facility, the statement reads.

In addition, Enbridge and NextDecade have negotiated a precedent agreement, to be executed at closing, whereby NextDecade will retain its rights to the natural gas firm transportation capacity on the Rio Bravo Pipeline for a term of at least twenty years to supply NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export facility.

The Rio Bravo Pipeline is designed to transport up to 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Agua Dulce supply area to NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project in Brownsville, Texas.

In November 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order authorizing the siting, construction, and operation of NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project and the Rio Bravo Pipeline.

In January 2020, FERC issued a final order on rehearing for the Rio Grande LNG project and the Rio Bravo Pipeline.