NextDecade Corp. appointed Erik Ludtke chief commercial officer effective 1 November. He will be responsible for developing and managing the natural gas supply portfolio, the midstream assets, and the commercial operations required to provide NextDecade’s customers with LNG from NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG and Galveston Bay LNG projects. Mr. Ludtke has nearly 25 years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining NextDecade, Ludtke led commercial and business development activities at NorthStar Midstream. From 2006 until 2011, he led Apache Corp.'s oil and gas marketing and trading group in the US and Latin America. Prior to 2006, Ludtke spent 6 years with Duke Energy, including 3 years as president of the company’s South America (Southern Cone) business unit and he worked at BG Group where he managed projects and regional business units. He holds an economics degree from Texas A&M University and completed executive development course work at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.