Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has awarded Excelerate Energy, Houston, a 15-year time charter for which Excelerate will provide an advanced floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to be named by Petrobras VT3.
Capable of storing 173,400 cu m, the vessel will be the industry’s largest so far. It will deliver 20 million cu m/day of natural gas to southeastern Brazil.
In addition, from July 2013 until the arrival of the VT3 newbuilding, Petrobras’s Guanabara Bay LNG terminal will use Excelerate’s Exquisite FSRU with an increased regasification plant, expanding the terminal’s delivery capacity to 20 million cu m/d from 14 million cu m/day.
The VT3 newbuilding design is based on Excelerate’s existing fleet and Petrobras requirements, said the announcement. Capable of operating as both an FSRU and a fully tradable LNG carrier, the vessel is to enter service in May 2014.
Excelerate Energy selected Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering to build the new vessel. This is the same South Korean shipyard that built its previous eight FSRUs.
