Oct. 12, 2026 · A $4.5 billion LNG plant is proposed for the Port of Matamoros, fed by U.S. gas through a pipeline that starts near Brownsville

October 12, 2026 · Local economy · Border

A $4.5 billion LNG plant is proposed for the Port of Matamoros, fed by U.S. gas through a pipeline that starts near Brownsville

South Padre Island, Port Isabel and the Brownsville Ship Channel seen from the International Space Station, with the Gulf at the top — File photo: South Padre Island, Port Isabel and the Brownsville Ship Channel from the International Space Station, Aug. 26, 2016. This is the U.S. side. The Port of Matamoros is in Mexico, on the Gulf coast of Tamaulipas. Photo: NASA.

A Texas company wants to send U.S. natural gas to a floating plant at the Port of Matamoros, turn it into liquefied natural gas (LNG), and ship it overseas. The U.S. Department of Energy published notice of Freedom LNG's application on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Comments and protests are due Monday, Dec. 7.

The plant: BRAVO LNG, planned "nearshore" at the Port of Matamoros. Per the company's application, the gas would be liquefied on barges built in the United Arab Emirates or Southeast Asia and held in two floating storage units, about 6 million tonnes of LNG a year.
The gas: mostly from the Permian Basin and other U.S. fields. It would travel through the existing Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline, "which starts near Brownsville, Texas, and runs mostly underwater through the Gulf of Mexico," the application says, then through a new subsea line of about 70 kilometers (about 43 miles) to the plant.
The price and the pitch: RGV Business Journal reports the plant at $4.5 billion. "We have to recreate a mini city around Port of Matamoros," Muthu Chezhian, president of Freedom LNG, told the paper.
The timeline: the company says it expects to file its first Mexican permits in the fourth quarter of 2027, start test gas in December 2030 and begin full commercial service in July 2031. It is asking for 20 years of exports.

Where it stands: this is an application, not an approval. DOE says no final decision will be issued until it meets its environmental review duties under federal law. Anyone may file a comment or protest by 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 7. DOE prefers email to fergas@hq.doe.gov, in English, with "Docket No. 26-127-LNG" in the title line.

Why it matters here: two LNG export projects are already planned on the U.S. side, at the Port of Brownsville: Rio Grande LNG, under construction, and Texas LNG, which had not announced a final decision to build as of our Oct. 3 report. Freedom LNG says building the plant would benefit construction workers "drawn from both U.S. and Mexican labor pools."

Sources: Federal Register, DOE notice of Freedom LNG's application (Oct. 6) · Freedom LNG's application to DOE (PDF, Sept. 2026) · RGV Business Journal on the Matamoros LNG plan (Oct. 10) · NASA photo ISS048-E-72099

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