Houston-based NextDecade Corp. signed two contracts with Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services related to the Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Brownsville, Texas.

The lump-sum contracts include cost, schedule and performance guarantees.

The news came days after NextDecade announced the death of its founder and chairman of its board of directors, Kathleen M. Eisbrenner, at the age of 58.

Eisbrenner founded NextDecade in 2010 and remained as NextDecade’s board chair until her death.

The EPC contracts are for the first phase of the Rio Grande LNG project, which, if built, would consist of three liquefaction trains, two 180,000 cubic meter storage tanks and two marine berths totaling more than $9.5 billion. Each liquefaction train is expected to have capacity up to 5.87 million tons per annum (MTPA), which NextDecade said would generate an EPC cost of around $543 per ton for the first three trains.

Fluor Corp. submitted a competing bid, which was not accepted.

The Rio Grande export facility would be linked to Permian Basin gas fields via a 4.5 billion cubic foot per day pipeline. The pipeline would move natural gas from the Agua Dulce area to the export facility.

In early April, NextDecade signed a 20-year sale and purchase agreement with Shell NA LNG LLC for 2 MTPA of LNG from the LNG export project.

The EPC contracts with Bechtel include full site preparation, which could reduce the costs per ton of the remaining trains to below $543 per ton. Bechtel will perform limited notice to proceed work from June 1, 2019, until Jan. 1, 2020. It also agreed to accept up to $15 million in NextDecade common stock.

NextDecade said it could make a positive final investment decision on up to three trains of the Rio Grande LNG project as early as the end of the third quarter of 2019. Commercial operations could begin in 2023.

In announcing Eisbrenner's death, NextDecade said she was formerly executive vice president at Royal Dutch Shell, where she was responsible for managing the company’s global LNG portfolio and LNG trading business.

Prior to Shell, Eisbrenner was the founder and CEO of Excelerate Energy, focused on developing the Floating Storage Regasification Unit vessel and industry. She also held various senior management positions at El Paso Energy.

She was also a former member of the Board of Directors of Chesapeake Energy and the National Petroleum Council. Eisbrenner was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1982.