LNG

Excelerate Energy Inc., the specialist US company for LNG floating storage and regasification projects from South America to the Nordic region and South Asia, reported steady earnings after a quarter marked by further deals in Qatar and Brazil.

Excelerate Energy, the leading US provider of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and an LNG trader with increased demand from Europe and Asia, has now completed two long-term LNG supply accords focused on delivering more cargoes to Bangladesh and to integrate its business in the South Asian nation.

Excelerate has just signed a 15-year Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with QatarEnergy after signing a similar SPA in late 2023 with Bangladesh’s national energy company PetroBangla as the customer this time.

Excelerate said that under the QatarEnergy deal the Texas-based company would purchase up to 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Qatar on a delivered ex-ship basis in Bangladesh and beginning in January 2026.

The US company will purchase 850,000 tonnes per annum in 2026 and 2027 and 1.0 MTPA from 2028 to 2040.

Qatar deal

“This inaugural long-term supply agreement with the world’s largest LNG supplier marks a new milestone in our collaboration with QatarEnergy,” said Steven Kobos, President and Chief Executive of Excelerate.

“Qatar delivers approximately 10 percent of its current annual LNG production through Excelerate FSRUs and we are pleased to unlock further new demand in the markets where we operate,” Kobos explained.

“This agreement highlights our ability to secure critical and affordable LNG volumes for our customers with increasing natural gas demand, while driving stable, long-term economic uplift on our existing infrastructure,” he stated.

QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said he was pleased to sign the Excelerate agreement focused on Bangladesh.

“This new agreement will further strengthen our relationship with Excelerate while also supporting the energy requirements of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and its stride towards greater economic development,” added Al-Kaabi.

PetroBangla agreement

Excelerate in the third-quarter of 2023 had signed a long-term SPA contract with PetroBangla.

Under that deal the Bangladeshi company has agreed to purchase between 850,000 tonnes and 1.0 MTPA LNG from Excelerate for that 15-year term.

Excelerate first opened the Bangladesh market to LNG in 2018 with the development of its integrated Moheshkhali LNG FSRU terminal.

In the years since, the company deployed a second FSRU terminal to the Bay of Bengal and has utilised its infrastructure position to win spot LNG cargos sales into Bangladesh.

Excelerate's two FSRUs in Bangladesh deliver around 25 percent of the country’s natural gas supply.

QatarEnergy President and Chief Executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, told the Vancouver LNG2023 conference in Canada that as one of the largest LNG exporter, the Arab Gulf nation noted there were already concerns about energy security and affordability in the European Union even before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports dropped by 24 percent in May at prices lower than a year ago to reverse April’s brief rebound as domestic gas production was also flat while the start of the monsoon season in June has coincided with higher cargo prices.

Bangladesh state energy company PetroBangla said the nation has reached agreement with the Sultanate of Oman for the supply of additional LNG cargoes from the Arabian Peninsula.

Under the latest Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) Oman will supply 250,000 tonnes per annum of shipments as early as 2025 and up to 1.5 million tonnes per annum from 2026.

A statement said the new agreement was signed by PetroBangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarkar.

Bangladesh has also recently renewed a long-term LNG supply deal with QatarEnergy for 1.8 MTPA for 15 years and starting in 2026.

The new volumes from Qatar will come from the North Field expansion projects that will take QatarEnergy’s output at Ras Laffan to 126 MTPA from the current 77 MTPA.

At present, Bangladesh has a 15-year import deal with Qatar for 2.5 MTPA of LNG.

FSRU terminals

Bangladesh has two floating LNG import terminals in the form of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) chartered from the US terminal specialists Excelerate Energy.

One FSRU is chartered by national oil and gas company PetroBangla and has been located offshore Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal since 2018.

The second is chartered by Summit Power International of Singapore and has been stationed since 2019 off the port of Cox’s Bazaar.

Summit Power has also said it was hoping to secure a charter on a second FSRU for 2026, with capacity to handle 4 MTPA.

Bangladesh also operates more than 20 natural gas fields and produces around 24 billion cubic metres per annum of domestic gas, though has to import at least 7 Bcm of LNG per annum to make up at least some of the shortfall.

Bangladesh depends on imported natural gas for power generation as the energy mix is made up of a high proportion of gas-fired power plants, about 60 percent of the total, while the balance comes mostly from coal.

June 2 (LNGJ) - QatarEnergy has entered into a long-term LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement with Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corp. (PetroBangla) to supply about 1.8 million tonnes per annum of cargoes to Bangladesh for 15 years starting in 2026.

   The SPA signing at QatarEnergy’s Headquarters in Doha was attended by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President and Chief Executive of QatarEnergy, and Nasrul Hamid, the state minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in Bangladesh. “These supply arrangements reinforce our unwavering dedication to safeguarding the energy security of valued customers like Bangladesh and delivering the reliable energy they require for socio-economic development and prosperity,” said Al-Kaabi who is also Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports started 2023 on a brighter note with LNG deliveries increasing by almost 8 percent as falling cargo costs encouraged industrial buyers in West Asia to purchase more gas.

The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, said the southwest Asian country needed urgent supplies of liquefied natural gas from the spot market even at high prices to help meet the growing demand for natural gas for power generation.

Europe’s natural gas and LNG markets suffered another price fall on the week of 5.8 percent amid mild winter weather as the Japan-Korea Marker price for spot cargoes extended its front-month premium to $5.65 per MMBtu over European Union values.

Excelerate Energy, the US LNG specialist and a market leader in floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), saw its shares increase by 11.8 percent in its trading debut after raising $384 million in the biggest US initial public offering since January 2022.

Shares in Excelerate closed on April 13 at $26.85 per share, giving the company a market value of about $2.8 billion based on the outstanding shares listed.

Excelerate shares are now quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “EE”.

Excelerate sold 16 million shares at the top of a marketed range of $21 to $24 per share in its IPO.

The share sale came at a time when FLNG project interest is increasing worldwide as nations try to underpin their energy security with fast-track import projects.

The company has pioneered over a dozen import ventures worldwide and has also led the way in ship-to-ship LNG transfers.

Excelerate, based in The Woodlands in Houston in Texas, is part of a privately held US energy group founded by George Kaiser, owner of the Bank of Oklahoma. Kaiser will continue to control the majority of the shares.

Developer

Excelerate developed the Bahia Blanca GasPort, South America’s first LNG import terminal in 2008, and has also operated GNL Escobar, an LNG import terminal along the Paraná River of Argentina, since 2011.

The business spans the globe, with regional offices in eight countries and operations in the US, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Excelerate prospectus for the IPO informed potential shareholders that it was the largest provider of regasified LNG in Argentina and Bangladesh and one of the largest providers of regasified LNG in Brazil and Pakistan, while also operating the biggest FSRU in Brazil.

The Excelerate company has additionally started FSRU-led import ventures in the US and the Middle East.

Excelerate had net income of $41 million and revenue of $889M in 2021 compared with $33M of profits and $431M in revenues in the previous year.