Seatrium hands off FSRU to New Fortress for Brazil LNG project

Seatrium has completed the conversion of the Energos Celsius into a floating storage and regasification unit and delivered it to New Fortress Energy for deployment at the Barcarena LNG terminal in northern Brazil.

The Energos Infrastructure-owned FSRU has departed from the Seatrium shipyard in Singapore for Brazil, Seatrium said in a statement Dec. 22.

The Energos Celsius represents Seatrium's fourth FSRU project for Brazil and is expected to play a crucial role in the New Fortress Energy's LNG terminal development at Barcarena, Seatrium said.

The LNG terminal incorporates a long-term gas contract to supply Norsk Hydro at the Alunorte alumina refinery. Also, it supports a 630 MW power plant New Fortress Energy is developing adjacent to the terminal, as well as further power and fuel expansion projects in the region, the statement said.

The Energos Celsius appeared to be off Singapore's southwestern coast, based on S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

The statement did not provide an estimated arrival date in Barcarena.

Neither Seatrium nor New Fortress Energy immediately responded to separate requests for comment.

Barcarena LNG terminal

The Barcarena import terminal, at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil's Para state, was expected to deliver its first gas to customers at the end of this year, based on the latest update from New Fortress in a statement Nov. 7.

That statement listed the expected completion of the Energos Celsius' conversion as November 2023. It is unclear how the actual conversion's completion will affect the terminal's expected commissioning date.

New Fortress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The LNG import terminal will be the first of its kind in the northernmost region of Brazil.

New Fortress' second Brazil LNG terminal

New Fortress is developing a second LNG terminal in Brazil. The Gas Sul terminal, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, is expected to begin commercial operations in January 2024, New Fortress Energy said in November.

The Energos Winter, sub-chartered by New Fortress from state-led Petrobras in November for the terminal, has already departed from its previous location in Pecem port. Despite initial indications pointing to Santa Catarina, the FSRU arrived Dec. 21 in Guanabara Bay, the site of a Petrobras-operated regasification terminal, where it remained as of Dec. 22, CAS data showed.

It is unclear when that FSRU will arrive in Santa Catarina. A Petrobras spokesperson said Dec. 22 that the Brazilian state-run company no longer retains operational control of the vessel.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the DES Brazil Netforward price at $9.82/MMBtu Dec. 22, down 19 cents on the day.