NextDecade Corp. announced its third long-term contract with a Chinese company for liquefied natural gas (LNG) offtake as it prepares to possibly sanction the first two trains of its Rio Grande LNG project this year.

Rio SPA

Houston-based NextDecade disclosed Tuesday it has clinched a 1.0 million metric ton/year (mmty), 20-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with a trading subsidiary of China Gas Holdings Ltd. Under the SPA, China Gas could receive LNG from the second train of NextDecade’s Brownsville, TX project on a free-on-board basis starting in 2027. Volumes would be linked to Henry Hub.

The SPA with China Gas marks the fourth long-term contract for offtake from Rio Grande LNG and the third with a Chinese client this year. NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman said China Gas’s...