LNG

New Fortress Energy, the US integrated LNG and power company that owns, operates or provides natural gas to 30 facilities in five countries has been awarded a new gas supply contract in Puerto Rico.

NFE said the Puerto Rico gas contract more than doubles the volumes of gas it currently provides to power plants in the US territory in the Caribbean.

The New York-based company additionally sold two operating power plants to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).

NFE explained that it sold the emergency power plants it constructed on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers in San Juan and Palo Seco in Puerto Rico to PREPA for $373 million in cash, subject to certain items and conditions.

Power security

“These plants were developed by the company in 2023 in rapid response to a competitive bid by the US Army Corps of Engineers to provide emergency power in order to stabilize the power grid in Puerto Rico,” explained NFE.

“They have become a cornerstone of Puerto Rico's energy portfolio, delivering critical baseload power to stabilize the grid in the aftermath of recent natural disasters, and as contemplated, their ownership has been transferred to PREPA,” NFE added.

Following a competitive bid process, NFE was awarded and has entered into a new island-wide gas supply contract with PREPA, ensuring continued gas supply to these power plants for up to four years.

“The expanded volumes under the contract will enable conversion of other plants on the island from diesel to gas, providing lower cost, cleaner energy to Puerto Rico,” NFE stated.

As a result of the early termination of the contracts that have governed the construction, operations and associated costs of the two power plants, NFE said that it expected to negotiate a mutually beneficial settlement of all outstanding obligations in the near future.

“We entered the Puerto Rico market in 2017 based on the island’s emergency need for natural gas and power,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFE.

“The transactions mark a significant milestone in our continued commitment to Puerto Rico's energy security and cost reduction efforts while significantly increasing our business in the region,” Edens added.

LNG projects

In its most recently earnings, NFE reported net income for 2023 of $547.88M, an almost three-fold increase from the $194.48M achieved in 2022.

After the end of the financial year NFE noted that in February 2024 it completed the Brazilian Barcarena and Santa Catarina LNG import terminals and placed them into service.

In NFE’s “Fast LNG” operation whereby it produces LNG from feed gas, it placed into service its first unit offshore the Gulf of Mexico and is now expecting first LNG in March and the first cargo in April 2024.

New Fortress Energy, the US integrated LNG and power company that owns, operates or provides natural gas to 30 facilities in five countries has almost tripled net profits in the past year.

Höegh LNG Holdings, the owner of 10 floating storage and regasification units and two conventional LNG carrier, has completed the acquisition of the LNG carrier “Golar Seal”.

The company purchased the 2013-built “Golar Seal” from Cool Co., the LNG shipping joint venture led by Eastern Pacific Shipping.

Höegh LNG paid $184.3M for the vessel with 160,000 cubic metres of capacity.

Hamilton, Bermuda-based, Höegh also assumed all costs associated with the vessel's scheduled dry-docking.

Höegh said that the “Golar Seal” would also be renamed the “Höegh Gandria”.

Höegh last month reported net losses for the fourth quarter and the year during a busy period as three vessels were prepared for floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) operations in Germany and Brazil.

Höegh still posted increased revenues during the last three months of 2022 amounting to $106.06M, up from $94.66M in the same quarter of 2021. Full-year revenues rose to $380.8M from $351.8M in 2021.

FSRU market

The company increased vessel operating expenses primarily related to repositioning of three vessels to make them ready for FSRU operations.

All three vessels completed their FSRU operational preparations at shipyards during the fourth quarter and two 10-year time charter contracts with the German Federal Government were signed in December and January respectively.

The company’s FSRUs “Höegh Esperanza” and “Höegh Gannet” were allocated to contracts and deployed in Germany at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River north of Hamburg.

The third vessel, “Höegh Giant”, left the yard in November and was operating in the LNG carrier market on an interim charter before it was scheduled to go to Brazil in the second quarter of 2023.

Höegh signed a 10-year charter agreement with a Brazilian joint venture comprising São Paulo Regas Company and Comgás, Brazil’s largest gas distributor.

Höegh added in its earnings statement that its business development team was in “active dialogue” with several potential new projects looking for FSRU capacity which could provide growth opportunities for the group in the future.

New Fortress Energy, the US operator, developer and supplier of liquefied natural gas in the Americas, has moved closer to starting operations at its Pichilingue LNG facility near La Paz in Mexico’s Baja California Sur state on the Pacific Coast.

Petroleo Brasileiro, the state energy company of Brazil, said it had successfully concluded tests to allow a 50 percent capacity increase at its re-started floating liquefied natural gas import terminal at Guanabara Bay in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian energy regulators said a total of 17 oil and gas companies are registered to take part in one of the most lucrative auctions ever for licences set for November 7 and with prospects of raising US$50 billion for the South American nation from the blocks offered for oil fields with associated gas.