This organization has the technological advantage, physical infrastructure, and vision to become a dominant player in the energy market.

Excelerate Energy, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, is an importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with an entrepreneurial focus on the rapidly-growing global marketplace and the infrastructure required to support LNG deliveries.

Excelerate Energy, presided by Kathleen Eisbrenner, is focused on delivering LNG to downstream markets by securing regasification capacity in both existing and new projects, acquiring LNG shipping capacity through flexible time charters and ownership positions, purchasing LNG supplies on both a short-term and long-term basis, and executing contracts for natural gas off-take downstream of regasification terminals.

According to Eisbrenner, the company has spent nearly $2 billion over the last four years building out a network of geographically diverse, cutting-edge regasification gateways, which has left it in the position for massive expansion.

Natural energy
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a product used around the world to meet natural gas energy demands. The technology used to produce LNG enables abundant natural gas resources to be shipped between continents via specially designed ocean-going vessels where traditional pipeline transportation systems are not available.

LNG is natural gas that has been cooled to the point that it condenses to a liquid. When natural gas is cooled into liquid form, approximately 600 cubic feet of natural gas at atmospheric conditions can be reduced in volume to one cubic foot of LNG. Therefore a single LNG tanker transporting LNG is equal to 600 tankers carrying natural gas at atmospheric pressure and temperature. This allows LNG to be shipped efficiently and economically throughout the world.

Natural gas, the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels, in liquid form is odorless, colorless, and noncombustible. In an unconfined environment, vaporized LNG is not explosive. In the event of a spill, LNG will rise above ground level and dissipate into the atmosphere,
according to the company’s Web site.

Bridge to energy
Excelerate Energy developed Energy Bridge, a proprietary offshore LNG regasification and delivery system, which involves the use of purpose-built LNG tankers for the transportation and vaporization of LNG through specially designed offshore receiving facilities. Energy Bridge represents an innovative step forward in LNG importation technology.

The Energy Bridge system was developed to provide delivery of natural gas to markets in a safe, efficient, and reliable manner using Energy Bridge Regasification Vessels (EBRVs) for the transportation and vaporization of LNG. The EBRVs deliver natural gas through the specially designed offshore receiving facilities.

Energy gateways
One of Excelerate Energy’s EBRVs, the Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge deepwater port (Gulf Gateway), is located approximately 116 miles from the Louisiana coast. Gulf Gateway has a base load capacity of 500 million cubic feet per day, with a peak capacity of 690 million cubic feet per day.

Its second EBRV, the Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge deepwater port (Northeast Gateway), will be located offshore in Massachusetts Bay, approximately 13 miles southeast of the city of Gloucester. Northeast Gateway will deliver regasified LNG to onshore markets via a new 24-inch pipeline lateral, which will connect to the existing HubLine Pipeline System that traverses Massachusetts Bay and integrates with the New England natural gas grid. This will enable Northeast Gateway to deliver an average of 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas with a peak send out of 800 MMcf/d.

The gateway is designed to provide a reliable supply of clean burning natural gas into the natural gas distribution system for Massachusetts and New England while minimizing environmental impacts, mitigating safety concerns, and increasing energy diversity for the onshore industries and communities that it serves.

Further development
Excelerate Energy is pursuing a number of development projects to expand the network of Energy Bridge deepwater ports. Energy Bridge is uniquely capable of delivering new supplies of clean burning natural gas to high-demand, constrained, and/or densely populated areas with minimal impacts to onshore infrastructure, communities, and people. Given its short construction cycle (approximately one year), Energy Bridge offers an efficient and near-term solution to satisfy the growing global need for natural gas.

The company is developing an Energy Bridge deepwater port off the coast of Northern California. Plans call for an application forconstruction of the deepwater port to be filed under the Deepwater Port Act in 2006, with an anticipated online date in 2009. The expected capacity will be between 600 million to 1 billion cubic feet per day.

Excelerate Energy is also exploring opportunities to deliver incremental supplies of natural gas into the Florida market. Preliminary discussions and analyses are underway for the development of the Southeast Gateway. It’s scheduled for completion in 2009 and will have a capacity of more than 400 million cubic feet per day.