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Excelerate said in its fourth-quarter presentation that the LNG carrier is expected to serve its gas supply business in the short term and will be a candidate for the company’s first FSRU conversion.
The Texas-based firm did not provide further details regarding the LNG carrier.
Steven Kobos, president and CEO of Excelerate said during the company’s earnings call later on Thursday that the company’s technical team “inspected a number of LNG carriers as part of this effort.”
“We are optimistic about our prospects and continue to engage in negotiations to acquire an LNG carrier in 2025,” he said.
Asked about the type of the vessels, he said Exclerate is “not going to take anything off the table.”
“We’re looking at a number of steam candidates. We are looking at TFDEs, we’re looking at all kinds of propulsions and all kinds of containment systems,” he said.
Kobos said FSRU conversions are an “attractive option” for many customers due to the lower capital commitment required to convert the assets.
“They also have shorter timelines for construction and delivery when compared to newbuilds,” he said.
“Going forward, we see a balance of newbuilds and conversions as key to addressing diverse market needs. The flexibility provided by both options allows us to be strategic in our approach to fleet expansion and our overall growth,” he said.
Projects
Excelerate said that a number of the integrated opportunities the company is pursuing are better suited for an FSRU conversion.
In May 2024, Excelerate revealed a list of 12 prioritized regasification projects saying that a number of these projects will require new FSRUs.
Excelerate said 10 of the projects have a price tag between $50 million and $400 million, while two projects have CapEx greater than this range.
The firm revealed more details regarding some of the projects from this list, including the Northern Vietnam LNG terminal and the Alaska FSRU terminal.
Excelerate and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC), a unit of state-owned PetroVietnam, also signed a strategic partnership agreement to jointly study FSRU-based technical solutions for LNG imports into Vietnam.
The company said in its third-quarter presentation report in November 2024 that “several projects in our pipeline require a smaller send-out vessel and would be ideal for an FSRU conversion.”
Excelerate also said at the time that it was evaluating a potential LNG carrier acquisition in 2025, while the company’s CCO David Liner revealed more details regarding the planned FSRU conversion during the third-quarter earnings call.
FSRU fleet
Excelerate operates ten FSRUs, one of the world’s largest fleets of such vessels, and these units are located worldwide.
Some FSRUs are located in Finland, Brazil, Dubai, Pakistan, while one FSRU will also start serving the second FSRU-based LNG import terminal in Germany’s Wilhelmshaven later this year.
In addition to these 10 FSRUs, Excelerate also ordered one 174,000-cbm FSRU at South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2022.
It will pay about $332 million for the vessel, and the FSRU is scheduled for delivery in June 2026.
In October 2024, HD Hyundai Heavy held a steel-cutting ceremony for this unit.
Exclerate said in the results report that it expects to achieve keel-laying for this unit in March.
According to Excelerate, the next milestone will be the vessel’s launch in June 2025, ahead of its sea and gas trials.
Results
Excelerate reported a net Income of $46.1 million for the fourth quarter and $153 million for the full year 2024.
The firm reported an adjusted Ebitda of $91.6 million for the fourth quarter and $348.2 million for 2024
Excelerate’s 2024 net Income and adjusted Ebitda increased primarily due to “various charter rate increases and a full year of earnings for the FSRU Excelsior, partially offset by the transition of the FSRU Sequoia to a time charter party agreement in the first quarter of 2024.”
Net income also increased due to lower depreciation expense driven by an update to the company’s FSRU useful life assumption in the fourth quarter of 2023, it said.
The company expects Adjusted Ebitda to range between $340 million and $360 million for the full year 2025.
“We delivered record full-year financial results while maintaining our standard of operational excellence,” Kobos said.
“In 2025, we will continue to focus on expanding our fleet, optimizing our LNG supply portfolio, and pursuing strategic investments in both FSRU-based import terminals and downstream LNG infrastructure,” he said.
(This article was updated to include additional comments by CEO Steven Kobos.)
