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.

Excelerate Energy, the US specialist and a market leader in floating storage and regasfication units (FSRUs), is preparing an initial public offering that will help test the appetite of investors for shares in the natural gas sector of the energy transition.

Excelerate has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to debut its shares and will be circulating a prospectus.

Excelerate intends to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “EE.”

Excelerate is based in The Woodlands in Houston in Texas and is part of a privately held US energy group founded by George Kaiser, owner of the Bank of Oklahoma.

The company has an operating fleet of 10 LNG FSRUs and is the pioneer of over a dozen import projects worldwide.

Execerate has also led the way in ship-to-ship LNG transfers as it started terminal operations in South America, the US, Europe and Asia.

“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering are subject to market conditions and have not yet been determined,” said Excelerate in a statement.

Three banks have been nominated to serve as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering, Barclays of the UK and US investment banks J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley.

“The displacement of dirtier fossil fuels and the natural complement of LNG to a fast-growing renewables sector makes flexible floating LNG products, such as those provided by Excelerate, a part of the solution to decarbonization,” the company says.

In its latest terminal project Excelerate will help to stabilize the flow of supplies to Brazil through 2022 with a deal to deploy one of its existing FSRUs to the port of Salvador in the northeast state of Bahia.

Under the agreement with the South American country’s state-owned oil and gas company Petróleo Brasileiro Excelerate’s FSRU “Excelerate Sequoia” will supply up to 700 million cubic feet per day of regasified LNG.