Excelerate Energy Appointed Midstream Partner for FLNG Project Offshore Equatorial Guinea

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Nov. 6, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Excelerate Energy L.P. ("Excelerate") today announced it has executed an agreement with the Government of Equatorial Guinea and Ophir Energy plc ("Ophir") for the provision of a Floating Liquefaction Storage and Offloading vessel, or FLSO. The project, named Fortuna FLNG, will be located at Block R, Equatorial Guinea which is owned 80% by Ophir and 20% by the national oil company of Equatorial Guinea, GEPetrol. Excelerate will act as the lead in a consortium of technology providers that is expected to include Samsung Heavy Industries and Black & Veatch. Upon completion of Definitive Agreements and FID, Excelerate will build, own and operate the newbuild FLSO vessel and provide liquefaction services to Ophir. First gas is expected in 2019.

The facility will be located in Block R approximately 140 kilometers off the coast of Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The FLSO will liquefy natural gas into LNG onboard the specialized vessel and subsequently offload the LNG to LNG carriers, allowing for the quick and cost-effective commercialization of the natural gas. The project is expected to produce up to 3.0 million tonnes of LNG per annum for a period of 20 years. The facility will operate in water depths of approximately
1600 meters and benign met ocean conditions, ideal for FLNG projects.

"We are pleased that the Government of Equatorial Guinea and Ophir have entrusted Excelerate Energy with the development of this state-of-the-art facility and the first of its kind in Africa," stated Rob Bryngelson, President and CEO of Excelerate. "Our partnership demonstrates our commitment in developing innovative means of accessing new sources of energy."

Excelerate's participation in the Fortuna LNG project builds on the company's expertise as the industry-leading provider of floating regasification solutions, as well as the extensive development and design work done to date for floating liquefaction. More broadly, the project is aligned with the company's strategy to become the leading provider of small and mid-scale FLNG projects with 1 to 4 MTPA of LNG production.