NextDecade Corporation (stock ticker: NEXT) said that its board has elected company CEO Matthew K. Schatzman to serve as chairman, effective June 4, 2019.
Schatzman replaces Matthew W. Bonanno, who served as interim chairman since May 14, 2019, following the untimely death of Kathleen M. Eisbrenner, 58, the company’s founder and chairman. She served jointly as chairman and CEO until February 2018 and remained as NextDecade’s chairman until her death. Previously Eisbrenner was EVP at Royal Dutch Shell, where she was responsible for the management of the company’s global LNG portfolio and LNG trading business.
NextDecade said Bonanno became lead independent director effective June 4.
“We believe Matt is ideally suited to deliver our Rio Grande LNG project and to maximize the value of our business for all stakeholders,” Bonanno said in a statement.
Schatzman joined NextDecade as president and board member September 18, 2017. He was appointed president and CEO on February 1, 2018.
Previously Schatzman served as EVP for Global Energy Marketing and Shipping and member of the Group Executive Committee at BG Group running the company’s global marketing, trading and shipping activities for LNG, crude oil and natural gas.
Schatzman also held senior executive roles at Dynegy and started his career at Transco Pipeline, a subsidiary of Williams. Schatzman is a graduate of Yale University and he is a member of the National Petroleum Council.
NextDecade is developing the Rio Grande LNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Brownsville, Texas.
In 2016, NextDecade filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site, construct and operate the Rio Grande LNG project and the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline project. On October 12, 2018, FERC issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Rio Grande LNG and Rio Bravo Pipeline. FERC issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Rio Grande and for the Rio Bravo Pipeline project on April 26 of this year.
The company signed two contracts with Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of Rio Grande for the first phase of the LNG project, which consists of three liquefaction trains, two 180,000 cubic meter storage tanks and two marine berths totaling $9.565 billion. Each liquefaction train is expected to have capacity up to 5.87 million tons per annum of LNG, which would generate an EPC cost of approximately $543 per ton for the first three trains.
NextDecade said Rio Grande LNG will be supplied with natural gas from the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, and other resources. The Rio Bravo Pipeline will transport gas from the Agua Dulce area to the Rio Grande LNG project. NextDecade anticipates reaching FID by the end of Q3 2019.
