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The company operates 11 FSRUs, including a chartered FSRU integrated with the Jamaican assets, one of the world’s largest fleets of such vessels, and these units are located worldwide.
In addition to these FSRUs, Excelerate also ordered one 174,000-cbm FSRU at South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2022 with delivery scheduled in 2026.
Exclerate will deploy this FSRU (Hull 3407) to Iraq under its recently signed deal.
Kobos noted during Exclearte’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday that the global LNG market is entering a new phase of accelerated growth.
“After a modest supply expansion over the past three years, approximately 200 million tonnes of incremental LNG supply is expected to come online between now and the end of the decade. This growth is expected to drive global LNG supply from approximately 430 million tonnes per annum in 2025 to greater than 600 mtpa by 2030,” he said.
“As the ratio of global regas capacity to supply tightens, developing new regas infrastructure will become increasingly important,” Kobos said.
FSRU conversion
“As we look ahead, Excelerate is preparing to meet the demand of the next wave of LNG growth,” the CEO said.
With Exclerate’s newest vessel (Hull 3407) now committed to the Iraq project, the company is advancing plans to convert its existing LNG carrier Shenandoah into an FSRU.
Kobos said this conversion will expand the company fleet’s flexibility and allow it to respond “more quickly to emerging opportunities.”
“Engineering work is already underway, and we’ve initiated procurement of long lead items to compress the construction timeline and accelerate deployment. These steps reflect our continued focus on scalable, capital-efficient infrastructure that can be delivered where and when it’s needed most,” he said.
The recent announcement regarding Iraq is a “powerful example of how Excelerate’s integrated model creates differentiated value in markets where energy infrastructure is urgently needed,” he said.
$200 million, newbuild
Kobos also answered a question about the timeline and capital costs to convert the vessel to an FSRU.
“The $30 million.. I believe that was going to the acquisition cost of the Shenandoah that we spoke about before. That was, of course, kind of all in right after she had been dry-docked right before delivery,” he said.
“In terms of what we’ve spoken to before, I think we’ve had a decent range saying, we’re kind of thinking about $200 million all-in on a conversion. That varies between what you’re starting with the host ship. This will be the lower end of that,” he said.
“You can imply from that that there will be more extensive CapEx than if the host vessel had been a TFDE vessel without geeking out too much on the shipping stuff. So I think we’re consistent with that,” Kobos said.
“Ultimately, I don’t want to commit to a particular time frame in the yard on it. We’re going to give ourselves plenty of time so that we can execute that in a good way. But I can assure you, we’ve just put away 3407 in a great home and our effort and our focus is on Shenandoah at this point,” he said.
“But wait, I’ll ask your next question, which is what do you think, what else? What else are you thinking about?”
“We haven’t given up on newbuildings. We’ve had a team in Korea talking extensively and workshopping what a new generation could look like for different markets we’re thinking about. So I don’t want to indicate by virtue of the steps we’re taking with Shenandoah that is an exclusive path forward,” Kobos said.
