Clifford Chance advises TotalEnergies on ~US$300 million investment in Rio Grande LNG Train 4 project
September 26, 2025
- David Stringer, Victoria B. Salem (She/Her), Alexander S. Leff, Todd Lowther, Marcia Hook, Steve Nickelsburg, Craig Nethercott, Sohini Kar-Purkayastha, Chirag Sanghrajka, Meny Elgadeh, Nina Yoshida, Ulrich A. Pfeffer, David Smith, Adebola Akisanya, Jesse Dowdle, Hannah Ebersole, Rick Thoben (He/Him), , Nicholas Johnson, Erin Drolet, Doyin Kazeem
- Houston, New York, Washington D.C., London, Paris, Dubai, Düsseldorf
Clifford Chance advises TotalEnergies on ~US$300 million investment in Rio Grande LNG Train 4 project
Global law firm Clifford Chance has represented TotalEnergies in its ~US$300 million investment for a 10% equity stake in the fourth liquefaction train (Train 4 project) of the Rio Grande LNG joint venture, which is currently being developed by NextDecade in Brownsville, Texas.
The Train 4 project is expected to cost US$6.7 billion and is funded by approximately 40% equity and 60% debt. Train 4 will add on an additional 6 million tons per annum (MTPA) capacity to the currently-in-development Rio Grande facility, bringing the total capacity up to 24 MTPA.
In addition to TotalEnergies’ existing 16% equity stake in the first three liquefaction trains, 17% ownership of NextDecade itself, and LNG offtake contract with the first three trains, TotalEnergies also entered into an agreement to offtake 1.5 tons per annum of LNG from Train 4 for the next 20 years.
The deal team was led by partners David Stringer and Victoria Salem and associate David Smith, with assistance from associates Adebola Akisanya and Jesse Dowdle, all based in Houston.
The international team providing additional support included:
- Houston: partners Alex Leff and Todd Lowther and associate Hannah Ebersole
- New York: counsel Meny Elgadeh, associate Rick Thoben and law clerk Karim Lalji
- Washington, DC: partners Marcia Hook and Stephen Nickelsburg, and associates Nicholas Johnson and Erin Drolet
- London: partner Craig Nethercott and lawyer Doyin Kazeem
- Paris: partner Sohini Kar-Purkayastha and counsel Nina Yoshida
- Dubai: partner Chirag Sanghrajka
- Dusseldorf: counsel Ulrich Pfeffer
This transaction continues Clifford Chance's long-standing work for TotalEnergies in the energy and infrastructure space, which includes advising on its strategic acquisition of a 50% stake in AES Renewable portfolio, its renewable energy natural gas joint venture and TotalEnergies E&P USA, Inc on its stake in dry gas producing assets in Texas.
