Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Feb. 16 -- Excelerate Energy has completed its first ever commercial transfer of 132,000 cm of LNG from a conventional LNG ship to its specially designed Energy Bridge Regasification Vessel (EBRV), which has docked at Teesside in northeast England. The EBRV will regasify LNG onboard using Excelerate's GasPort technology and will feed gas directly in the UK's national transmission system.
Teesside GasPort, which is a shore-mounted manifold that connects to a high-pressure gas arm onboard the EBRV, will allow Excelerate to deliver as much as 600 MMcfd of gas to the UK grid. This is a significant achievement because it facilitates dockside regasification of LNG. GasPort is less expensive at £40 million than using onshore regasification terminals, which cost £400 million.
Excelerate's Teesside GasPort was built with the initial capacity to import as many as four LNG cargoes a month, each of which contains 3 bcf of gas.
Excelerate is no stranger to innovative technology using EBRVs for its Gulf Gateway project 116 miles from Louisiana, but this uses a subsea buoy and delivers gas from the ship through an underwater pipeline that connects with the local gas pipeline network. Gulf Gateway is the world's only offshore LNG regasification facility and was the first US terminal to open in over 20 years in 2005.
However, it is unlikely that the EBRVs will deliver substantial LNG supplies to the UK as these gas prices have fallen to 20p/therm compared with 80p/therm when the Teesside GasPort proposal was launched over a year ago. Instead, the LNG is likely to go to the US where prices are higher. Prices have fallen due to mild winter weather and other import gas pipeline supplies coming onstream.
"In the last 6 months the UK has dramatically increased the amount of energy it can import by 140%, diversifying and increasing our security of supply," the UK Department for Trade and Industry added.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].