US LNG developer NextDecade promotes Schatzman to CEO

US liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project developer, NextDecade said it had promoted Matthew K. Schatzman to the position of the company’s chief executive officer.

Effective February 1, Kathleen M. Eisbrenner, who founded NextDecade in 2010, will be succeeded as CEO by Schatzman, the company’s current president. Eisbrenner will remain chairman of NextDecade’s board of directors.

Today’s announcement implements the plan agreed by Eisbrenner and the company’s board in 2017 that Schatzman is “the ideal person to serve as NextDecade’s president and CEO and lead the company and its major development projects, Rio Grande LNG and Rio Bravo Pipeline,” NextDecade said in its statement.

Schatzman has nearly 30 years’ experience in the energy industry. He was previously executive vice president for marketing and shipping and a member of the executive committee at BG Group, that is now part of Shell.

At BG, Schatzman was responsible for the company’s global marketing, trading, and shipping activities for LNG, crude oil, and natural gas.