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US FSRU player Excelerate announced the steel-cutting ceremony for the 170,000-cbm FSRU (Hull 3407) on Monday.
The ceremony took place at HD Hyundai Heavy’s yard in Ulsan, South Korea, and was attended by representatives from Excelerate, Bureau Veritas, and Seaquest Marine.
Excelerate said the next milestone, keel laying, is expected in March 2025.
In October 2022, Excelerate ordered this FSRU at HD Hyundai Heavy.
The US firm will pay about $332 million for the construction of the vessel.
HD Hyundai Heavy will deliver the unit to Excelerate by June 2026.
Excelerate said the FSRU will have a maximum regasification capacity of one billion standard cubic feet per day (1,000 MMscf/d).
According to Excelerate, the vessel will feature HD HHI’s proprietary LNG regasification system, dual fuel engines, selective catalytic reduction system, boil-off gas management, and other technologies which will improve performance and efficiency while lowering emissions.
The vessel’s tanks will be fitted with GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane containment system.
Following delivery in 2026, Exclerate will have 11 FSRUs in its fleet.
Excelerate currently operates ten FSRUs, one of the world’s largest fleets of such vessels, and these units are located worldwide.
These FSRUs are located in Bangladesh, Finland, Brazil, Dubai, Pakistan, while one FSRU will start serving the second FSRU-based LNG import terminal in Germany’s Wilhelmshaven later this year.
Excelerate in expansion mode
As part of its expansion plans, Excelerate and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC), a unit of state-owned PetroVietnam, recently signed a strategic partnership agreement to jointly study FSRU-based technical solutions for LNG imports into Vietnam.
In June 2024, Excelerate also signed a term sheet with ITECO, a Vietnamese-based private development company, to co-develop a greenfield LNG import terminal in Hai Phong, Vietnam.
According to Exclerate, the northern Vietnam LNG terminal (NVLT), which will be constructed in two phases, is anticipated to have a total import capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
Phase one of the terminal is expected to have a capacity of 0.7 mpta, while operations are expected to start in 2027.
Besides these facilities in Vietnam, Excelerate is in “advanced discussions” with local utilities in Southcentral Alaska to develop an integrated LNG import terminal in the lower Cook Inlet region.
This would be an FSRU-based terminal and Excelerate is expected to own the facility and be responsible for LNG and sell gas to local utilities.
In May, Excelerate revealed a list of 12 prioritized regasification projects, including several that 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, one of which is the planned Payra development in Bangladesh.