The long and winding road to reach a FID on a U.S. LNG project is paved with near-Herculean obstacles to move even a mile. Just ask NextDecade’s Chairman and CEO Matt Schatzman who has led the Houston-based company since 2018.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from NextDecade, whose proposed Rio Grande LNG export terminal just gained a nitrous oxide package to fast track a FID, possibly within weeks. With the announcement this morning of framework agreements with French energy heavyweight TotalEnergies and PE firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), NextDecade’s stock price took a trip to the moon, shooting up more than 30%. TotalEnergies will buy a $17.5% stake in the company for $219.4 million, as well as offtake 5.4 mtpa for 20 years from the project’s Phase I, which includes the first three of five total trains. GIP will become a majority investor of Phase I and Total will pick up a 16.67% stake. Both Total and GIP will have options to invest in trains four and five.

Not only will Rio Grande be the largest LNG export terminal in the nation, but the first and only of its kind with a CCS hub to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% and permanently store more than 5 million metric tons of CO2 per year. At a cost of $11 billion, Rio Grande is also set to become the largest private-sector investment in Texas history. Matt, you should be dancing.