Executive Summary / Key Takeaways

• Integrated Growth Strategy: Excelerate Energy is transitioning beyond a pure-play FSRU provider to an integrated energy company, exemplified by the Jamaica acquisition and the Iraq project, which are expected to drive higher returns and diversify revenue streams.
• Robust Financial Performance & Outlook: The company delivered record adjusted EBITDA of $348 million in 2024 and significantly raised its 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $435 million - $450 million, underpinned by its take-or-pay contract model and successful strategic initiatives.
• Technological Edge & Operational Excellence: Excelerate's FSRU technology, including the upcoming best-in-class Hull 3407 and its FSRU conversion strategy, offers rapid deployment, superior efficiency (lowest boil-off rates), and operational flexibility, maintaining fleet reliability above 99.9%.
• Strategic Capital Allocation: With a strong balance sheet (net leverage ~2x) and ample liquidity, Excelerate prioritizes accretive growth investments, such as newbuilds and conversions, while consistently returning capital to shareholders through dividends, targeting low double-digit annual growth from 2026-2028.
• Addressing Global Energy Security: The company is uniquely positioned to meet rising global LNG demand, particularly in emerging markets and regions seeking to enhance energy security and balance renewable integration, leveraging its flexible infrastructure to unlock new demand centers.

The Foundation of Global Energy Security

Excelerate Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EE), founded in 2003, has established itself as a global leader in floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals and downstream LNG infrastructure. From its first major regasification contract in 2008, the company has built a business model predominantly supported by long-term, take-or-pay agreements, which insulate its earnings from economic cycles. This foundational strength, coupled with its specialized Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs), positions Excelerate as a critical enabler of energy security and transition worldwide.

The company's strategic journey has been marked by continuous innovation and expansion. Early financial structuring for assets like the Experience FSRU in 2016 and the Moheshkhali LNG terminal in Bangladesh in 2017 laid the groundwork for its current robust financial health. A pivotal moment was its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April 2022, which provided capital for further growth. Excelerate's commitment to fleet expansion is evident in its 2022 construction agreement for Hull 3407, a newbuild FSRU, and its 2023 LNG supply agreement with Venture Global LNG, securing long-term volumes.

Technological Leadership and Operational Prowess

Excelerate's core competitive advantage lies in its FSRU technology, which offers unparalleled flexibility and speed of deployment compared to traditional onshore terminals. The company operates 10 FSRUs, representing approximately 25% of the world's floating regasification capacity. This mobile infrastructure allows countries to rapidly establish LNG import capabilities, providing "cheap insurance" against energy supply disruptions and supporting the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. For instance, in January 2024, Gasgrid Finland estimated that without Excelerate's FSRU connected to its gas system during a windless cold snap, the Finnish economy could have suffered between €1.5 billion and €3 billion in a single week.

The company is actively advancing its technological edge. Hull 3407, a newbuild FSRU expected for delivery in June 2026, is designed to be a best-in-class asset. It will be capable of delivering up to 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/day) of natural gas and boasts the lowest boil-off rates in the industry. This superior efficiency translates directly into economic benefits, reducing LNG losses and enhancing operational profitability. Furthermore, Excelerate is pursuing FSRU conversions, with the recently acquired LNG carrier, Excelerate Shenandoah, earmarked as a conversion candidate. This strategy allows for lower capital commitment and shorter construction timelines compared to newbuilds, enabling quicker responses to emerging market opportunities. Engineering work for the Shenandoah conversion is already underway, with procurement of long-lead items initiated to accelerate deployment.

Beyond regasification, Excelerate is enhancing its fleet with advanced technologies. A reliquefaction unit is slated for installation on the FSRU Experience in Brazil during its next drydock in 2027. This technology will eliminate all excess LNG losses due to boil-off, further lowering Scope 1 emissions and upgrading the asset's performance and life expectancy. These technological differentiators contribute significantly to Excelerate's competitive moat, enabling it to offer customized, efficient, and environmentally conscious solutions, thereby enhancing its market positioning and long-term growth strategy.

Operational excellence is a hallmark of Excelerate's business. In 2024, the company achieved a fleet-wide reliability of 99.9%, the highest in its technical management history. This commitment to uptime ensures consistent revenue generation and reliable service for its customers. The company also celebrated its 3,000th LNG ship-to-ship cargo transfer in December 2024, demonstrating extensive experience and safety in complex operations. In the third quarter of 2025, the Jamaica assets, acquired in May, demonstrated exceptional reliability, exceeding 99.8% across the platform.

Competitive Landscape and Strategic Positioning

Excelerate operates in a competitive and rapidly evolving energy landscape, facing both direct and indirect rivals. Direct competitors include larger integrated energy players like Cheniere Energy (LNG), Kinder Morgan (KMI), and Sempra Energy (SRE), which have extensive infrastructure and market presence. However, Excelerate carves out a distinct niche through its specialized focus on flexible, floating regasification solutions and an integrated downstream approach.

Compared to Cheniere, primarily an LNG exporter, Excelerate's FSRU model offers faster deployment and adaptability, particularly for emerging markets that lack the time or capital for large-scale onshore terminals. While Cheniere may exhibit stronger revenue growth and cash flow generation from its extensive export facilities, Excelerate's agility allows it to capture opportunities in regions with urgent demand, such as those influenced by the growing power needs of AI-driven data centers.

Against Kinder Morgan, a major player in natural gas pipelines and storage, Excelerate's LNG regasification and supply solutions provide a more direct path to end-users, bypassing the need for extensive land-based pipeline networks in many international contexts. Excelerate's turnkey LNG solutions, encompassing sourcing, regasification, and power generation, offer a comprehensive service that differentiates it from Kinder Morgan's traditional midstream focus.

Sempra Energy, with its broad energy infrastructure and utility operations, presents a diversified competitor. Excelerate's FSRU-centric strategy can offer lower cost structures and significantly faster deployment for specific projects, giving it an edge in responding to immediate demand. Excelerate's global reach in floating solutions exploits Sempra's potential weaknesses in adapting to rapidly changing international market dynamics.

Excelerate's "tariff-proof" business model, as described by CEO Steven Kobos, further distinguishes it. The company's focus on overseas downstream LNG infrastructure means it is not heavily exposed to U.S. steel or aluminum tariffs, unlike some other energy infrastructure developers. This resilience, combined with its ability to help countries rebalance trade deficits through LNG imports, creates a strong tailwind for its services.

Financial Performance and Liquidity

Excelerate Energy has demonstrated robust financial performance, reflecting the strength of its business model and strategic execution. For the full year 2024, the company reported record adjusted EBITDA of $348 million, exceeding the high end of its guidance range, and net income of $153 million, a 21% increase year-over-year. This growth was primarily driven by successful FSRU recontracting at elevated market rates and optimization around its core regasification business.
The first nine months of 2025 continued this strong trajectory. Net income for the three months ended September 30, 2025, increased by $9.5 million to $55 million, while for the nine months, it rose by $20.9 million to $127.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2025 reached a record $129.3 million, a $37 million increase year-over-year. This performance was significantly bolstered by the May 2025 acquisition of the Jamaica integrated LNG and power platform, which immediately contributed to earnings and enhanced operating cash flow.

The company's revenue streams are categorized into Terminal Services and LNG, Gas and Power. While Terminal Services revenues saw a slight decrease in the nine months ended September 30, 2025, to $443.08 million (down 3.28% year-over-year) due to lower reimbursable costs and drydock impacts, the LNG, Gas and Power segment experienced explosive growth. Revenues in this segment surged to $245.16 million in Q3 2025 (a 466.42% increase year-over-year) and $467.61 million for the nine months (a 293.79% increase year-over-year). This dramatic increase was primarily driven by the Jamaica acquisition and higher LNG, gas, and power sales opportunities across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Excelerate's strategy of back-to-back contracts in this segment ensures minimal commodity price exposure, locking in fixed margins.

Excelerate maintains a robust balance sheet, providing significant financial flexibility. As of September 30, 2025, the company reported $462.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, with total debt (including finance leases) at $1.3 billion, resulting in net debt of $818 million and a 12-month trailing net leverage of approximately 2x. The company's revolving credit facility was amended in April 2025, extending its maturity to March 2029 and increasing commitments to $500 million, all of which was undrawn and available as of September 30, 2025. In May 2025, Excelerate successfully closed an $800 million offering of 8% senior unsecured notes due 2030, further solidifying its capital structure. The company's financial health was recognized with inaugural credit ratings of BB+ from S&P Global Ratings and BB from Fitch Ratings in April 2025.

Strategic Initiatives and Growth Outlook

Excelerate's growth strategy is centered on expanding its integrated LNG infrastructure footprint and leveraging its FSRU fleet to capture new market opportunities. The Jamaica acquisition, closed in May 2025 for approximately $1.05 billion, is a cornerstone of this strategy. The acquired assets, including two LNG terminals and a combined heat and power plant, are contracted and cash-generating, immediately enhancing Excelerate's operating cash flow and EPS. This acquisition also strategically aligns with Excelerate's 20-year Venture Global LNG supply agreement, securing a long-term downstream destination for its volumes. The company expects to generate an additional $80 million to $110 million in incremental EBITDA from optimizing the Jamaica platform and investing $200 million to $400 million in growth capital expenditures across Jamaica and the broader Caribbean by 2030. This includes positioning Jamaica as a regional hub for LNG distribution, utilizing a hub-and-spoke model to efficiently deliver LNG to other Caribbean islands that are increasingly looking to switch from liquid fuels to natural gas for power generation and bunkering.

A significant new development is the definitive commercial agreement executed in October 2025 with Iraq's Ministry of Electricity for the country's first fully integrated LNG import terminal at the Port of Khor Al Zubair. This turnkey project, with an estimated total investment of $450 million (including the FSRU Hull 3407), involves a five-year agreement for regasification services and LNG supply, with a minimum contracted offtake of 250 million standard cubic feet per day (approximately 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG). The project is expected to deliver an attractive EBITDA build multiple of 4.5x to 5x and is anticipated to be operational by summer 2026. This integrated approach, where Excelerate provides the FSRU, fixed terminal assets, LNG supply, and operational support, allows the company to capture a broader portion of the value chain and create multiple revenue streams.

Looking ahead, Excelerate has provided concrete guidance for 2025. The company raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $435 million to $450 million, reflecting strong year-to-date performance and the positive impact of the Jamaica acquisition. Maintenance capital expenditures for 2025 are projected to be between $65 million and $75 million, including planned drydocks for the FSRUs Exemplar and Explorer in the second half of the year, with off-hire impacts already factored into guidance. Committed growth capital for 2025 is expected to be between $95 million and $105 million, primarily allocated to milestone payments for Hull 3407, the purchase of the Excelerate Shenandoah LNG carrier, and a reliquefaction kit for the FSRU Experience.

Further out, the Petrobangla QatarEnergy LNG supply deal, a 15-year take-or-pay contract, is set to begin in January 2026, contributing $15 million of incremental EBITDA in 2026 and 2027, stepping up to $18 million from 2028 onwards. The final payment of approximately $200 million for Hull 3407 is due upon its delivery in mid-2026. The company is also targeting low double-digit annual dividend growth from 2026 through 2028, underscoring its confidence in future cash flows and commitment to shareholder returns.

Risks and Challenges

Despite a compelling growth narrative, Excelerate Energy faces inherent risks. The successful integration of the Jamaica acquisition and the execution of the Iraq project carry operational and financial risks, including potential delays, unforeseen expenses, and integration challenges. The competitive market for LNG regasification services remains dynamic, and changes in global LNG and natural gas supply, demand, and pricing could impact profitability, although Excelerate's back-to-back contract strategy mitigates direct commodity exposure.

Operating in diverse international jurisdictions exposes the company to political, legal, and economic risks, as well as the ability to obtain and maintain governmental approvals. Debt levels and finance lease liabilities could limit financial flexibility, though the company's current leverage is manageable. Furthermore, global economic uncertainty and geopolitical events, such as wars and conflicts, could amplify existing risks. The company is also subject to concentration risks, particularly with certain high-volume customers, and must manage its supply chain effectively.

A recent example of operational resilience was Hurricane Melissa's impact on Jamaica in October 2025. Excelerate's crisis management team successfully relocated its FSRU and mobile marina assets, and operations were swiftly restored, with minimal financial impact expected due to comprehensive insurance coverage and the take-or-pay business model. This event highlighted the importance of robust infrastructure and contingency planning, which Excelerate had proactively addressed by investing in asset hardening measures like black start generators and strengthening sea walls in Jamaica.

Conclusion

Excelerate Energy stands at a pivotal juncture, transforming from a specialized FSRU provider into an integrated energy solutions company. Its core investment thesis is rooted in its ability to deliver critical, flexible LNG infrastructure to a world increasingly focused on energy security and cleaner fuels. The company's strategic acquisitions in Jamaica and the integrated Iraq project underscore a clear path to enhanced earnings and diversified revenue streams, leveraging its technological leadership in FSRUs and a disciplined capital allocation strategy.

With record financial performance, a strong balance sheet, and a clear roadmap for growth, Excelerate is well-positioned to capitalize on the tightening global regasification capacity and the growing demand for affordable LNG. While operational and geopolitical risks persist, the company's "tariff-proof" business model, operational excellence, and commitment to integrated solutions provide a robust foundation for long-term value creation. Investors looking for exposure to the critical downstream segment of the global LNG value chain, backed by predictable cash flows and a proactive growth strategy, will find Excelerate Energy a compelling opportunity.