NextDecade announced the completion of the roof raising operation in a social media post on Monday.
The roof weighs approximately 2 million pounds.
“In a month filled with milestones, we could not be prouder of the NextDecade and Bechtel Corporation teams,” the company said.
NextDecade and Bechtel completed raising the roof on the first tank earlier this month.
The two Rio Grande LNG tanks each have a capacity of 180,000 cbm.
In July 2023, NextDecade took the final investment decision on the first three Rio Grande trains and completed $18.4 billion project financing.
NextDecade awarded the $12 billion EPC contract to Bechtel, and it officially kicked off work on the plant in October 2023.
Besides the two LNG storage tanks, the first phase includes the contrcution of two jetties designed to load LNG carriers up to 216,000 cbm in capacity.
Phase 1, with a nameplate liquefaction capacity of 17.6 mtpa, has 16.2 mtpa of long-term binding LNG sale and purchase agreements.
More trains
NextDecade just made a final investment decision on the fourth train at its Rio Grande LNG facility worth $6.7 billion.
The firm closed financial transactions to fully fund Train 4 and related infrastructure, and issued a full notice to proceed to Bechtel for the unit.
In June, NextDecade and Bechtel finalized EPC contracts worth $9.09 billion for the construction of the fourth and fifth trains and related infrastructure at the Rio Grande LNG facility.
NextDecade also secured $1.8 billion in equity commitments from TotalEnergies and Global Infrastructure Partners to finance the construction of the fourth train at its Rio Grande LNG facility.
Moreover, Train 4 will bring the total expected LNG production capacity under construction at Rio Grande LNG to approximately 24 mtpa.
The unit is commercially supported by 4.6 mtpa of 20-year LNG sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) with Adnoc, TotalEnergies, and Aramco.
The guaranteed substantial completion date for Train 4, as well as the date of first commercial delivery (DFCD) under the Train 4 LNG SPAs, is anticipated in the second half of 2030.
In addition to these five trains, NextDecade announced plans in March to build up to five more trains at the Rio Grande LNG facility.
NextDecade said it is developing and beginning the permitting process for Trains 6 through 8.
The LNG terminal operator expects these trains to increase its total liquefaction capacity by approximately 18 mtpa once constructed and placed into operation.
