NextDecade plans to cut CO2 equivalent emissions at its planned Rio Grande LNG facility by around 90%.
The US company said it was “exploring options” to enable the plant to increase this to achieve carbon neutrality.
“Natural gas has a critical role to play in the global energy transition to a low-carbon economy, ensuring the security of energy supplies and preserving high quality jobs in the United States and around the world,” said NextDecade’s chairman and CEO Matt Schatzman.
“Our work to date confirms that reliable, competitively priced LNG and responsible environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive. A solution that promises both is indeed eminently feasible with the thoughtful use of existing technologies and the application of our proprietary processes.”
NextDecade said it had chosen carbon capture and storage (CCS) as be the most feasible technical solution. This may allow it to reduce CO2e emissions by 90%, while exploring options for the remaining 10%.
It reached the conclusion after examining a range of technical solutions on how to reduce emissions in commercially viable ways.
The company aims to reach a final investment decision (FID) in 2021. Driving this will be “flexible commercial offerings and leadership in environmental and social performance”, the company said.
Rio Grande LNG is based in the Port of Brownsville, in Texas. It will have export capacity of 27 million tonnes per year.
The company had initially planned to reach this target through six trains but in August won approval from the US regulator to reduce this to five trains. Six trains would have produced 4.5mn tpy, moving to five trains will require them to produce 5.4mn tpy each.
Reducing the number of trains will cut costs and reduce emissions.