NextDecade stock soars on TotalEnergies deal for $219 million stake

(Reuters) -Shares of NextDecade jumped as much as 53% on Wednesday after French energy major TotalEnergies said it would buy 17.5% of the U.S. liquefied natural gas developer for $219 million.

The transaction is part of a broader deal to help facilitate NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas.

LNG companies are racing to bring more U.S. export terminals online following a surge in demand from Europe to fill the gap left by sanctions on major producer Russia.

"NextDecade appears to have procured their financial and commercial heavyweight partnership arrangements just in time ... expect NEXT shares to trade up sharply this morning," said Stifel analysts.

NextDecade said it has entered into framework agreements with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and TotalEnergies to facilitate the final investment decision for the Rio Grande LNG project, expected to be confirmed by the end of June.

The news comes after the company repeatedly pushed back the projected date for a financial go-ahead on the first phase of the project.

Earlier this year, Societe Generale disclosed that it had pulled out from the Rio Grande project last year. SocGen had been the lead bank in the financing of some $11.5 billion for the LNG plant before its exit.

NextDecade's shares were up about 35% at $6.94 on Wednesday, after touching a session-high of $7.84.

The stock has risen about 40% so far this year and had a market value of $772.4 million as of Tuesday's close.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)