Texas-based floating LNG player Excelerate Energy said that its FSRU Exemplar has started operations in Bahia Blanca, a port city located south of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
The 150,900-cbm vessel arrived at the facility on May 27. It will deliver LNG for the 2021 winter season in Argentina.
“We are excited to return to Bahia Blanca and continue our partnership with IEASA and YPF to deliver an energy solution that is flexible, cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly during a critical period of peak demand,” said Daniel Bustos, Excelerate’s chief commercial officer.
“We are confident the Exemplar can perform again with our local Argentine crew to support the country’s energy transition and post-Covid economic recovery this winter,” he said.
The return of Excelerate’s FSRU comes after the company won an international, competitive tender for seasonal regasification service in Bahia Blanca.
To remind, Argentina’s state-owned energy company IEASA had launched a tender for cargoes to the Bahia Blanca facility in April.
Excelerate’s floating storage and regasification unit previously served the Bahia Blanca facility for ten years until the end of 2018.
The US firm developed the Bahia Blanca GasPort, South America’s first LNG import terminal in 2008 and has also operated GNL Escobar, an LNG import terminal along the Parana River, since 2011.
