LNG

Excelerate Energy, the leading US-based LNG terminal provider in the form of floating storage and regasification units, reported much improved third-quarter results and higher future earnings prospects as projects advanced for Germany and Finland.

Excelerate posted net income for the three months to the end of September of $37.3 million compared with $1.4M in the 2021 quarter.

Revenues for Excelerate in the quarter showed a more than four-fold increase to $803.3M versus $192.1M in the same period last year.

The Texas-based company later confirmed at the end of the quarter the start of the charter process for a project serving Finland and the Baltic state of Estonia.

The Texas-based company also signed a definitive agreement to deploy the FSRU “Excelsior” to Germany for five years.

Excelerate’s “Exemplar’ completed another winter season delivering LNG regasification services to Argentina and in August departed the port of Bahia Blanca and sailed to Europe for maintenance and winterization.

Finland project

The FSRU “Exemplar” was first delivered in 2010 and is 291 metres in length and with a beam of 43 metres and capacity of 151,000 cubic metres.

“Finland’s charter hire commenced in October and winterization upgrades for the ‘Exemplar’ are ongoing,” said Excelerate.

“The ‘Exemplar’ is currently undergoing customer-requested winterization upgrades during a technical stop at the Navantia shipyard in Ferrol (northwest Spain),” said Excelerate

Excelerate and Gasgrid Finland previously announced an executed 10-year, time charter party agreement for Excelerate to provide LNG regasification services, which are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2022.

For the German agreement, the “Excelsior” is expected to provide regasification services at Germany’s planned LNG import terminal being developed at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven by developer Tree Energy Solutions and the German and French utilities E.ON and Engie.

“Excelerate previously announced that the company and Engie signed a term sheet for the deployment of an FSRU to provide flexible and secure LNG regasification capacity for Germany as it continues to seek alternatives to Russian pipeline gas supply,” said Excelerate.

The US company also recently ordered an FSRU newbuild from Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea to be set for hire in the second quarter of 2026.

Earnings overview

The company’s adjusted earnings increased over the prior quarter due to lower idle fuel costs, lower repair and maintenance expenses and higher margins from the Bahia Blanca seasonal charter in Argentina.

Excelerate said this was partially offset by an increase in expenses primarily driven by higher consulting costs to support the company’s transition to a public company structure, along with higher spending related to business development and marketing activities.

“Excelerate delivered another great quarter, demonstrating the strength of our flexible business model against the backdrop of the most significant energy market disruption in decades,” said President and Chief Executive Steven Kobos.

“We are successfully executing our strategy to deploy our flexible LNG infrastructure and pursue downstream opportunities to expand our reach in both new and existing markets,” added Kobos.

“Our portfolio approach to managing our FSRU fleet provides us with a unique ability to deliver the best solutions that scale with our customers’ needs in both developed and emerging markets,” stated the CEO.

The company added that it was increasing its full-year 2022 guidance range.

Adjusted gross earnings are now expected to range between $264M and $274M, up from $249M and $269M.

The LNG and energy trading subsidiaries of Eni of Italy, China National Petroleum Corp., Socar of Azerbaijan and global commodities firm Trafigura are among the leading participants in the largest ever tender for 240 cargoes issued by Pakistan and for delivery to a Singapore-owned import facility near Karachi.

The former head of LNG for Royal Dutch Shell and one of the early advocates of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), Kathleen Eisbrenner, has died at the age of 58 in Houston in Texas.

Bangladesh has started up its second liquefied natural gas import facility deployment offshore the port of Cox’s Bazar and the floating storage and regasification unit, the  “Summit LNG”, has already sent gas into the Asian nation’s network.

Bangladesh is set to start-up its second liquefied natural gas import facility with the deployment offshore the port of Cox’s Bazar of the floating storage and regasification vessel “Summit LNG”.

The second FSRU for the Asian nation is part of a project involving Singapore-based Summit Power International and Excelerate Energy of the US, owner and operator of the FSRU and also the provider of Bangladesh's first floating import facility.

The “Summit LNG” vessel is capable of regasifying 500 million cubic feet a day and has been charted from Excelerate for a period of 15 years.

The ship loaded its commissioning cargo at Ras Laffan in Qatar before heading for Bangladesh.

The Summit Group said the FSRU can handle around 3.75 million tonnes per annum of LNG and doubles the country’s import capacity after a first FSRU, the “Excellence”, was commissioned at Moheshkhali Island in August 2018 as the first Bangladesh import facility.

The Moheshkhali Island venture was co-developed by national energy company PetroBangla, the International Finance Corporation, part of World Bank Group, and Excelerate provided the FSRU.

The latest FSRU is a 138,000 cubic metres capacity vessel that was refitted at dry dock by the Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine shipyard in Ras Laffan in Qatar for the Summit Group, whose Chairman is Muhammed Aziz Khan.

Summit operates 20 power plants in Bangladesh with an installed capacity of 1,941 megawatts comprising 20 percent of Bangladesh's total capacity in the private sector.

The power company is also developing the 583 MW gas-fired plant in the Bangladesh town of Meghnaghat, located about 20km south of the capital Dhaka and which will be the nation’s largest when it comes on line in March 2022.

“Summit is working towards achieving power and energy sufficiency in Bangladesh under the bold leadership of the government,” said Khan.

“We are pioneering the adaptation of cutting-edge technology for most economical, efficient and sustainable energy solutions to enable graduation to a developed country,” added the Summit Chairman.

Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan acquired a 25 percent stake in the Summit Group in August 2018 and is represented in the board.

General Electric of the US and Summit have also signed an accord opening the way for GE to potentially provide $50 million to Summit to be used for the development of power projects in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is scheduled to receive its first cargo of the month on November 21 after two earlier November shipments were cancelled at the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Moheshkhali Island on the Bay of Bengal because of a technical fault.

Qatar Petroleum President and Chief Executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi has held talks in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan centering on more liquefied natural gas supplies for the Asian nation as it plans a third import facility.

Argentina is set to change from being an importer to an exporter of liquefied natural gas and has initiated a study on the first liquefaction and export venture with US floating project specialist Excelerate Energy.

The Aguirre LNG import project company in Puerto Rico, said it was continuing to monitor the bankruptcy proceedings of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and is hopeful of the US territory completing a second import facility in the future.

Qatar Gas Transport Co. (QGTC), the LNG shipping company of Qatar, has signed an agreement with US floating import project company Excelerate Energy to form a joint venture firm and as a start has acquired a 55 percent interest in a floating storage regasification unit.