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Exclerate said in a statement on Thursday it has entered into an agreement with Wartsila Gas Solutions, part of Finnish technology group Wärtsilä, to purchase a reliquefaction system for retrofit installation onboard one of its vessels.
It did not reveal the price tag of the deal.
Delivery of the Wartsila reliquefaction system is scheduled for early 2026.
The equipment will be available to be installed on any of Excelerate’s existing vessels based on customer demand or for prospective LNG projects, Excelerate said.
Excelerate said the retrofit project will improve the environmental footprint of Excelerate’s FSRU operations by reliquefying boil-off gas and returning it back to the cargo tanks, thus reducing emissions and saving cargo at the same time.
According to Excelerate, the system is also fitted with the latest technology and features to minimize maintenance and operational costs
“We are committed to reducing the environmental footprint in all our operations, and this project is a substantial part of that commitment,” said David Liner, COO at Excelerate Energy.
11 FSRUs
Excelerate operates ten FSRUs, one of the world’s largest fleets of such vessels, and these units are located around the globe.
Some of the 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 Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2022. It will pay about $332 million for the vessel.
Speaking during Excelerate’s second-quarter results in August, president and CEO Steven Kobos and David Liner said the company will integrate modular reliquefaction kits onboard its vessels.
Kobos said it will enhance the value of the service Exceerate provides to its customers, create opportunities for increased revenue generation, and support growth projects in Excelerate’s pipeline.
More reliquefaction kits
He said during the call Excelerate recently placed initial orders for the reliquefication kits.
“We expect, as we get further customer traction, to continue this. We are not aware that any other FSRU has any of these kits installed,” he said.
Excelerate will have “some communication” with its customers regarding the installation of the kits.
Kobos said the technology “will pay for itself for many customers easy within a year.”
“So, we think they will value it, and we think they are gonna fly off the shelf”, he said.
In terms of timeline for the kits, Liner said the lead time for this equipment is about 18 months.
“By buying it now, that enables us to save our customers from having to make a decision two years in advance that they want this technology. So we are cutting the implementation time from a couple of years down to series of months to be able to deploy this from the time the customer says yes, we’re ready to go,” Liner said.
