NextDecade Corporation

Good morning and welcome to the next Decade Corporation 2Q2026 investor call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow management's prepared remarks. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. And now, I would like to turn the call over to Megan Light, Next Decade's Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Next Decade's second quarter 2026 Investor Update Call-In Webcast. The Friday presentation and access to the webcast for today's call are available on our website at www.next-decade.com. Today, I am joined by Matt Schatzman, Next Decade's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and John Zuzlik, Next Decade's Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that discussion on this call, including answers to your questions, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal security laws. These statements have been based on assumptions and analysis made by Next Decade in light of current expectations, perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, and projections about future events and trends. Although Next Decade believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations will prove to be correct. Next Decade's actual results can differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in Next Decade's periodic reports that are filed with and available from the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, discussion on this call includes references to certain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow. The definition of and additional information regarding these measures can be found in the appendix for our presentation. And now, I will turn the call over to Matt Schatzman, Next Decade's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Megan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. First, I'd like to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, John Zuclick, who joined the company earlier this month. John was previously the Chief Financial Officer at Sitco, where he led the finance organization and was responsible for setting and executing financial strategies, recapitalizing the company, building functions to strengthen forecasting, governance, and decision support. John brings significant expertise to NextDecade after 30 years in the energy industry. We're very happy to have him here next decade, an experienced strategic and operational leader who will help us transform from an LNG development company to an LNG operating company. Transitioning to become a safe and reliable LNG operating company is one of our highest company-wide priorities in 2026. We're making great progress toward this goal as Rio Grande LNG Phase 1 construction continues to advance safely, efficiently, and ahead of schedule toward first LNG production. In May, We safely energized the main substation at the site, and in June, we surmounted over 100 operational employees to Bechtel in preparation for first LNG production. We continue to expect first gas into the facility later this year, and first LNG production from Train 1 in the first half of 2027. On our last call, we told you that we're tracking ahead of schedule, ahead of the schedule reflected in our production guidance, and that remains true today. As we continue to progress toward first LNG and get additional visibility into the production schedule, we will continue to evaluate opportunities to sell uncontracted volumes, and we expect to be able to narrow our forecast window for first LNG. I'd also like to thank the entire Next Decade team for their hard work and continued diligence in preparing for commissioning and startup across the organization. We have a lot of work to do, but I have no doubt we're placing ourselves in a strong position for a safe and effective transition to an LNG operating company. During the second quarter, we also made measurable progress on one of our financial goals for the year by turning out a significant portion of our Phase 1 bank facility debt. John will discuss these transactions in more detail later in the call. In May, we filed a formal FERC application for Train 6, and yesterday, we were notified by FERC that the final environmental impact statement will be issued by June 25, 2027. We believe that Train 6 is one of the most economically-advantaged ground-field LNG expansions in the world, and we expect to capitalize on our strong demand for LNG to underpin Train 6 and expand our capacity to deliver secure, reliable, and affordable LNG to customers around the world. Now I'd like to give some additional color on what's happening at the site as we progress towards first LNG production. As of June 2026, Trains 1 and 2 were 74% complete, with engineering and procurement nearing completion. Construction at almost 60% and the start of commission. As of June, Train 3 was over 50% complete. Train 4 was 15.5% complete and Train 5 was 9.4% complete. We have over 6,000 workers on site daily and Bechtel is doing an outstanding job advancing construction while maintaining exceptional safety standards and performance. Train 1 continues to progress positively and all major equipment has been set. We safely energized the main substation at the site in May with 138 kV power and we seconded over 100 operational employees to Bechtel in June. These are all major achievements ahead of first energy production. Construction beyond Train 1 is also progressing safely, on budget, and ahead of schedule. Train 2 major equipment installation is underway and the second compressor string and turbine were set in July. Train 3 major equipment installation has also started including the first compressor string. Welding of the inner tanks continues to progress for Tanks 1 and 2 and Tank 1 pipe installation is underway. The Train 4 soil stabilization process was completed recently and foundation pours began for the main cryogenic rack. The Train 5 soil stabilization process also began this month and Tank 3 piling work is underway. Construction of the Bay Runner pipeline continues to be on track for a third quarter 2026 in service. Significant progress has been made on the inlet gas facilities, and the hot tap to valley crossing pipeline was completed. Across the site, construction of permanent buildings is nearing completion, dredging activities for the burst and the turning basin are substantially complete, and our channel deepening project is complete. Spectral is continuing to track ahead of what we have shown in our early volume guidance, giving us some buffer for unexpected events during commissioning and startup, while still achieving the production guidance we have provided. We achieved major milestones in development of Train 6 when we filed the formal FERC application in May, and yesterday we received FERC's Schedule of Environmental Review, which states that we will receive the final EIS on June 25, 2027. This schedule supports a positive final investment decision, or FID, on Train 6 in the second half of 2027, contingent upon obtaining sufficient commercial support and financing. Additionally, we submitted our application to the Department of Energy for FTA and non-FTA export authorizations for Train 6 in June. Our goal is to fully commercialize Train 6 and to finalize an EPC contract with Bechtel on a timeline that supports FID in the second half of next year. We're also focused on ensuring that critical long-lead equipment is available when needed. In support of this objective, during the second quarter, we executed a reservation agreement with Baker Hughes to secure the supply of the main refrigeration compressors for Train 6. Commercialization of Train 6 continues to progress, and we're in active discussions for long-term SPAs with a number of high-credit-quality counterparts. The commercial environment for long-term LNG contracting remains strong, and the underlying themes driving demand for incremental LNG supplies in the early 2030s have not changed. Fueling economic growth and industrialization in developing countries, supporting growing power demand, and energy security with energy security and supply diversification Thank you for joining us today. will meaningfully increase future next decade distributable cash flow across a wide range of financing scenarios. And we're focused on financing train six in a way that both enables us to achieve our goals of maintaining full ownership of train six and maximizing distributable cash flow on a per share basis. Since our last call, global LNG market dynamics continue to be impacted significantly because of the Iran conflict. Whether stability returns soon or it takes longer to materialize, the impact on the LNG market has been material. The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken almost 20% of the world's LNG supply off the market. Each month that Ras Plafond and Das Island remain shut in results in a loss of approximately 7 million tons of LNG. We now expect the restart of these facilities, once it is safe and viable to do so, will take many months. The two trains that were damaged at Ras Plafond will take years to repair and the expansion capacity, which has been under construction, could be delayed by a year or more depending on how long hostilities continue in the region. Before the Iran conflict began, the LNG market was concerned the impending supply wave of LNG might cause a supply overhang. The current uncertainty around the return of LNG supplies from Qatar and the UAE, the amount of time it will take to repair the Qatar trains damaged by the Iranian attacks, and the delays to expansion projects currently under construction in the region will potentially remove additional material amounts of LNG supply from the global market through 2030 or longer. At a minimum, the current expected range of LNG supply scenarios, including the potential for a resolution of the situation in the Middle East this year, points to LNG supply growth through 2030 in line with are below the market's 20-year average growth rate. Based on our updated LNG supply forecast, we expect spot LNG prices to remain elevated through at least 2030. One very effective way for buyers around the world to acquire LNG at attractive prices is through long-term supply. U.S. LNG SBAs indexed to Henry Hub are particularly attractive due to the diversified Olympic natural gas resource base in the U.S., which effectively shelters buyers from spikes in the price of LNG and natural gas in other parts of the world. Henry Hub pricing has been relatively flat to down since the Iran conflict began, and customers with long-term contracts out of the U.S. that are indexed to Henry Hub are currently able to deliver into Europe or Asia at levels below $8 per MMBTU. We expect buyers to increasingly value long-term contracts out of the U.S., which will spur additional capacity growth in the markets. and with our trains 6 through 8 under development, we're in an excellent position to provide a meaningful amount of additional capacity to meet that demand. Before and after the Iran conflict began, we've received strong interest for long-term supplies out of train 6. And now I'd like to turn the call over to next decade's new chief financial officer, John Zuklik, to discuss recent financial transactions and highlights.