Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Excelerate Energy has advanced to the qualification stage for the lease of Petrobras’ Bahia port facility in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia. Excelerate Energy's Brazilian affiliate would lease and operate the 3.8 million ton/yr Bahia LNG import terminal, previously operated by Petrobras itself. The facility will include an inshore terminal along with facilities for mooring both a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and an LNG supply vessel in a side-by-side configuration. The facility’s maximum regasification flow rate is 20 MMcm/d, according to Petrobras. An Excelerate-owned FSRU would be used as is the case in neighboring Argentina and elsewhere (LNGI Jun.2'21) Opening Up Brazil Petrobras initially announced plans to lease the Bahia LNG facility in August 2020 as part of its strategy to improve its capital allocation and create a favorable investment climate for investors looking to enter Brazil’s natural gas sector (LNGI Apr.16'21). Petrobras’ push to demonopolize comes amid a lingering drought in Brazil that has impacted rainfall, leading to substantial declines in hydropower reservoir levels. As a result, the South American country has been forced to turn increasingly to LNG imports to meet energy demand (LNGI Jul.16'21). Petrobras’ announcement “is an important milestone in the process of promoting competition in the Brazilian natural gas sector,” Excelerate President and CEO Steven Kobos said in a company statement. “We understand that increasing access to flexible LNG supply is critical to stabilizing Brazil’s energy system, especially during adverse weather events such as the current severe drought,” he said.
