Engineering firm Bechtel Corp. last month agreed to give NextDecade Corp. more time to fund its proposed Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Texas, amid a major setback that the project recently sustained.

Houston-based NextDecade now has until December 21, 2021, to make positive final investment decisions (FIDs) to build up to three liquefaction trains at Rio Grande LNG for construction prices established last year to still be valid. The previous FID deadlines were July 31, 2021, according to a third quarter report NextDecade filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Under one contract signed on May 24, 2019, Bechtel would build two liquefaction trains with combined capacity of 11.74 million metric tons/year (mmty), two...