Excelsior FSRU leaves Israel

The 138,000m³ Excelsior floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) left the 4mn t/yr Hadera import terminal in Israel today, where it was previously operating.

The vessel — owned by the US' Excelerate Energy — has not declared for a specific destination, but had been set to undergo a dry docking at the end of this year ahead of being installed at Germany's Wilhelmshaven in autumn 2023 after the unit was chartered by the German government. The FSRU will be managed by Eon, Engie and Tree Energy Solutions, and is the second unit set to be installed at the port in the coming year.

The 170,000m³ Hoegh Esperanza FSRU is declaring for arrival at Wilhelmshaven on 10 December, having loaded about 167,000m³ of LNG at Spain's Sagunto facility on 1-3 December. The vessel is set to be installed at a terminal in Wilhelmshaven operated by Germany's RWE later this month.

The departure of the Excelsior from Hadera leaves Israel without any LNG import capacity, but receipts at Hadera had already slowed in recent years with the last delivery made in October last year, Vortexa data show. A sharp increase in Israeli domestic gas production had weighed heavily on the country's need for LNG imports, eventually wiping it, and left Israel exporting this gas to neighbouring countries such as LNG exporter Egypt.

By Auguste Breteau