April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. liquefied natural gas producer

NextDecade ( NEXT ) said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement

with a subsidiary of top oil producer Saudi Aramco to

supply the superchilled gas from its Rio Grande facility for 20

years.

The United States is already the world's largest exporter of

LNG and producers have plans in place that would double capacity

in coming years.

Aramco is seeking to become a big player in the LNG

market, and had been in discussion about a supply deal with

NextDecade ( NEXT ) for some time. The two signed a non-binding agreement

in June 2024.

The Aramco subsidiary will purchase 1.2 million tonnes per

annum of LNG from the fourth liquefaction facility, known as a

train, at Rio Grande. The deal is subject to NextDecade ( NEXT ) taking a

positive final investment decision (FID) on the project.

The Rio Grande LNG export plant has suffered repeated delays

and been in development for years. The first train is expected

to reach completion by 2027. The expected cost of the first

phase of the project, including the first three liquefaction

trains, is about $18 billion. The company made an FID to

construct the project in 2023.

LNG developers typically take FIDs on projects when they

have lined up enough supply deals to obtain the financing needed

to build.

Aramco has shown interest in both taking equity positions in

U.S. LNG projects and signing long-term LNG supply agreements

with U.S. producers.

Aramco last June signed a Heads of Agreement with Sempra

Infrastructure for 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from its

Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 expansion project.

The HoA could also see Aramco taking a 25% stake in the

13.5 million tonne per annum Phase 2 project should it get a

financial greenlight.