Excelerate Energy

What is Excelerate Energy ?

Excelerate Energy is a downstream LNG infrastructure company focused on regasification, gas import logistics and, increasingly, LNG-to-power. Historically, the core of the business has been the ownership and operation of floating storage and regasification units – FSRUs – which allow countries to import LNG without having to build a full onshore terminal. Following the acquisition of New Fortress Energy’s Jamaica assets in 2025, the company also gained meaningful exposure to onshore import infrastructure, power generation and gas distribution.

What makes Excelerate interesting is that it sits in a very specific part of the LNG value chain. It does not produce gas, it does not build liquefaction plants, and it generally does not take commodity exposure in the way upstream or trading-linked LNG businesses do. Its role is to provide the infrastructure that allows importing countries to receive LNG and convert it back into usable gas. In practice, that means a business with a much more contractual and asset-based earnings profile than most listed names associated with LNG.

That profile is supported by long-duration contracts. The FSRU fleet operates under medium- to long-term agreements, typically with extension options, while Jamaica added a second layer of longer-dated contracted cash flows, with the bulk of the remaining EBITDA tied to take-or-pay arrangements with average durations far above the legacy fleet. By 2026, the company should be producing close to $500MM of EBITDA on our numbers, with further visible growth from Iraq, Jamaica optimisation and future fleet additions. In our view, this is one of the cleaner listed ways to gain exposure to the growth in LNG import infrastructure over the coming years.

What is an FSRU, and how is it different from an FLNG?

An FSRU – floating storage and regasification unit – is a vessel that receives LNG, stores it onboard and converts it back into natural gas so it can be injected into a domestic pipeline network, industrial system or power plant. The reason this asset has become so important is simple: it offers countries a fast way to access LNG imports without having to wait years for a large onshore import terminal to be developed.

That speed matters. In markets facing structural gas shortages, seasonal power deficits or a sudden loss of pipeline supply, an FSRU can often be the lowest-cost and fastest route to adding import capacity. That is why these assets became particularly relevant in Europe after 2022, but also why they continue to be important in emerging markets where energy demand is growing faster than domestic infrastructure. Excelerate was effectively the pioneer of the commercial FSRU model and remains the largest dedicated operator globally, with roughly 20% of the fleet and 27% of installed capacity.

The distinction with FLNG is important because the two assets are often confused despite sitting on opposite sides of the chain. An FLNG vessel liquefies gas at the production side for export. An FSRU does the reverse: it receives LNG produced elsewhere and regasifies it for domestic consumption in the importing market. In other words, FLNG is export infrastructure and FSRU is import infrastructure. Excelerate has no upstream production exposure. Its business is built around the importing side of the LNG system, which is one of the reasons why lower LNG prices are often supportive rather than negative for demand.

How did the Jamaica acquisition from New Fortress Energy change the business?

The acquisition of New Fortress Energy’s Jamaica platform was the transaction that changed Excelerate from being almost purely an FSRU and regasification company into a broader downstream gas infrastructure operator. For $1.055Bn, the company acquired two Jamaican import terminals, a 150MW combined heat and power plant, and a gas distribution platform connected to industrial and power demand on the island. More importantly, it acquired an integrated position in a market where LNG infrastructure, power generation and downstream gas sales can all be combined under the same platform.

Strategically, that matters because Jamaica is not just another contracted asset. It introduced a business with longer-duration take-or-pay contracts, higher incremental optimisation potential, and the possibility of developing a regional LNG distribution model from a relatively advantaged geographic position. Around 86% of the remaining EBITDA base is tied to take-or-pay structures with inflation-linked features, and the average contract life is materially longer than that of the legacy fleet. That gives Excelerate a second earnings engine alongside the FSRU portfolio.

The next question is whether Jamaica remains just a stable cash-generating asset or becomes something more valuable over time. Management’s growth plan points to the latter. The company is targeting additional EBITDA over the medium term through bunkering, incremental industrial and hospitality gas demand, and the expansion of the island’s downstream energy infrastructure. We remain somewhat more cautious than management on some of these initiatives, particularly on the pace of new downstream contracts, given that New Fortress itself struggled to fully develop that opportunity over the prior years. Even so, the asset already looks strategically important, and the Guantánamo Bay supply contract supports the idea that Jamaica can function as a regional logistics hub for Caribbean LNG distribution rather than only as a domestic terminal business.

What is Excelerate Energy’s Iraq project and what are the real risks?

The Iraq project is probably the single most important near-term growth driver in Excelerate’s portfolio. In October 2025, the company signed a five-year integrated agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to develop the country’s first floating LNG import terminal at Khor Al Zubair. The project is expected to use Hull 3407, a newbuild FSRU from HD Hyundai, with commercial operations currently targeted for 3Q26. Contracted minimum volumes are 250 MMscf/d, with scope to move higher, and based on management disclosure the project should generate roughly $104-110MM of annual EBITDA at the committed level.

What has changed since the original signing is that the strategic logic behind the project has become even stronger. Iraq was already operating with a structurally weak power system, but the collapse in Iranian pipeline gas flows made the need for alternative gas supply much more urgent. That does not eliminate project risk, but it does materially improve the probability that the asset will be fully utilised and remain strategically relevant beyond the initial contract term. In that sense, the geopolitical backdrop has reinforced the industrial rationale for the project rather than weakened it.

The main risk, however, is still not construction. It is counterparty quality and payment security. Excelerate has experience operating complex assets, and management has indicated that cost and timing remain under control, with key equipment already positioned to reduce logistics risk. But Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity is not a typical low-risk counterparty, and the market is right to apply some discount until the payment framework proves itself in practice. That is the central issue in our view: not whether the project is economically attractive, because it clearly is, but whether the cash flows will ultimately be collected with the regularity investors would expect from infrastructure contracts in more developed jurisdictions.

Excelerate Energy Equity Research – MORAM Capital Coverage

Understanding Excelerate Energy properly requires going beyond the reported EBITDA and headline contract announcements. The key drivers of value sit beneath the surface: contract structure, recontracting economics, counterparty quality, maintenance cycles, capital allocation, and the balance between highly visible cash flows and longer-dated growth optionality.

Excelerate is one of the LNG infrastructure companies we follow most closely. Over time, our work has focused not only on the legacy FSRU fleet, but also on the company’s gradual shift towards a broader downstream platform through Jamaica, new gas supply agreements and additional import infrastructure opportunities. We believe this is one of the few listed names where the market still does not fully reflect the quality of the contracted base business nor the earnings power that could emerge over the coming years.

Our premium Excelerate Energy coverage includes:

• Initial equity research setting out the full investment case, business model and valuation framework
• Regular company updates following results, contracts, fleet developments and industry events
• Asset-by-asset valuation work across the FSRU fleet, Jamaica, Iraq and future conversion optionality
• Detailed contract analysis including take-or-pay protection, inflation indexation, gas sales structures and counterparty risk
• Scenario tables and model revisions as EBITDA drivers, capex plans and timing assumptions evolve
• Ongoing monitoring of key catalysts, including Iraq execution, Jamaica expansion, FSRU recontracting and potential M&A