Excelerate Energy has delivered an FSRU to Finland, loaded with a commissioning cargo.
The Exemplar FSRU will remain at the port of Inkoo for 10 years, under a contract with Gasgrid Finland.
Gasgrid CEO Olli Sipilä said the arrival of the FSRU at Inkoo was “really great”. Gasgrid has driven the plan “incredibly efficiently with Finnish decision-makers and various authorities. The LNG floating terminal project is an excellent example of how seamless teamwork between different parties works in Finland at its best. I would like to thank all the professionals and decision-makers involved in the project.”
Gasgrid has said it leased the FSRU for 460 million euros ($490mn). The vessel will provide scope for the delivery of gas locally and beyond, even into Poland via the Balticconnector pipeline.
Excelerate president and CEO Steven Kobos said the arrival was “an important milestone for Finland”. The country is preparing “to enhance its energy security and bring essential energy infrastructure to the region”.
Excelerate said the FSRU was loaded with a partial cargo of LNG. This will serve to commission the terminal.
The FSRU is 291 metres long and 43 metres wide. It can store 150,900 cubic metres of LNG and has 5 billion cubic metres per year of regas capacity.
Sipilä went on to say Finland was permanently phasing out its reliance on Russian gas.
“The aim is that the terminal’s customers will begin to distribute gas to meet the needs of Finnish industry, energy production and households from mid-January 2023 onwards,” the executive said.
Gasgrid has built a 2.2 km connecting gas pipeline from the vessel to its transmission network.
”We started the building work required by the LNG floating terminal in August 2022,” said Esa Hallivuori, head of the LNG Floating Terminal Project at Gasgrid Finland.
New opportunities
The US company will provide regasification services to Gasgrid under a time charter. It also has recently formed a gas marketing subsidiary in the country, Excelerate Finland Gas Marketing. This unit will sell the commissioning volumes and initial regasification capacity rights.
As a result, Excelerate Finland will be able to sell gas to downstream countries in Finland and the Baltic states.
The Exemplar left drydock in Spain on December 6. While in Spain, it underwent winterisation upgrade work. It took on the initial cargo via a ship-to-ship transfer near Gibraltar, from Excelerate’s Excelsior FSRU.
The Excelsior recently finished a 10-year contract in Israel. It is on its way to Germany for a charter starting in 2023.
According to Marine Traffic ship tracking, the Excelsior is off the southwest of Spain, on its way to Ferrol.