Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Feb. 15 -- RWE Group will become a 50% stakeholder in LNG ship regasification company Excelerate Energy LLC under an agreement signed Feb. 14. RWE will pay $500 million for its stake and the partnership will offer commercialization opportunities for RWE Dea's gas exploration and production activities, particularly in North Africa.
Excelerate currently has long-term charters for four operational LNG vessels, three of them with onboard regasification equipment. It hopes to boost the fleet to nine vessels by 2010. "The business owns and manages three import facilities for LNG›in addition to Teesside GasPort in the UK, there are two Gateways connected to the US gas grid. More GasPorts are planned."
GasPort cost £40 million whereas traditional land based regasification terminals are at least £400 million. Excelerate hopes to capitalize on meeting short-term LNG demand (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2007).
Both companies have been cooperating on a number of joint projects since 2006. The transaction needs the approval of US antitrust regulators before it can be finalized.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
