Looking to expand its ability to offload and convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) from ships to pipeline-grade natural gas around the world, Excelerate Energy has reached a shipbuilding option agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) for the delivery of up to eight floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) between early 2015 and early 2017.

The Woodlands, TX-based company said the agreement would give it the ability to increase its fleet of nine FSRUs as global demand for LNG import solutions continues to expand rapidly.

The initial options are for 6.1 MMcf (173,400 cubic meter) LNG FSRUs that would measure 294 meters in length and 46 meters in width and be capable of a baseload send-out capacity of 800 MMcf/d with peaking capacity in excess of 950 MMcf/d. The FSRUs would be based on Excelerate’s ninth FSRU under construction at DSME and committed to the Petrobras VT3 project, which would deliver 20 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to the southeast region of Brazil.

Excelerate said it has the option for smaller or larger capacity vessels depending on the future requirements of the market. The new regasification vessels would incorporate the company’s Energy Bridge technologies (see Daily GPI, April 23, 2007).

“As we see our existing assets being committed to projects and the worldwide market continuing to grow, we believe this is the right time to partner with DSME in order to continue to provide LNG import solutions in a timely and efficient manner,” said Ecelerate’s Edward Scott, senior vice president of development.

To date, Excelerate has developed and commissioned six LNG import facilities worldwide, with a seventh facility entering service in the fourth quarter of 2012 and an eighth terminal currently in advanced stages of development in Puerto Rico (see Daily GPI, April 20, 2011; March 25, 2010).

Looking to capitalize on the United States’ recent windfall of vast supplies of natural gas, Excelerate said this past spring it was moving forward with the development of the first floating liquefaction facility in the country utilizing its floating liquefaction storage offloading (FLSO) vessel technology (see Daily GPI, May 16).

The Lavaca Bay LNG project would be located in Port Lavaca on the Texas Gulf Coast and be designed to export LNG to markets worldwide by 2017. Excelerate said it chose Port Lavaca for the site of the facility because of its direct access to the “highly liquid” South Texas natural gas market, access to the Atlantic Basin through the Gulf of Mexico and potential access to the Pacific Basin with the widening of the Panama Canal.

In July it was reported that OGS, an engineering and project management company partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries, has won the topsides Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) work for the Lavaca Bay FLSO Project. OGS previously collaborated with Excelerate Energy for a FEED on a similar vessel for a location outside of the Unites States.

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