The Woodlands-based liquefied natural gas company Excelerate Energy has landed a contract to develop an offshore LNG import terminal in The Philippines.

In a Thursday morning statement, the Philippine Department of Energy announced that it had given Excelerate a notice to proceed to build the offshore LNG import terminal in the Bay of Batangas.

Known as Luzon LNG, the offhshore project will use an underwater pipeline to feed natural gas to existing and new gas-fired power plants that will generate electricity for customers in the city of Luzon and the metropolitan area of the nation's capital Manila.

"We look forward to working with the government and private sector for the successful completion of the project that will enable Excelerate to invest in critical infrastructure allowing the country to continue on its current path of tremendous economic growth," Excelerate Energy Chief Commercial Office Daniel Bustos said in a statement.

Boston to Bangladesh: Houston company emerges as global leader in offshore LNG

The offshore LNG project will supplement domestic natural gas production from the Malampaya fields, which have begun to deplete.

Excelerate plans to develop the import terminal offshore from the city of Batangas in order to minimize the impact to the existing shipping traffic in the area and coastline.

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Founded in 2003 and backed by Oklahoma billionaire George B. Kaiser, privately held Excelerate now employs about 100 and controls more than $3 billion in assets around the world.

Excelerate owns one-third of the world's current fleet of floating storage and regasification ships, which can be used as LNG import terminals.

Although they cannot import as much natural gas by volume, FSRUs are viewed as a more flexible and cost-effective option than building onshore facilities.

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Excelerate Energy lands offshore LNG deal in the Philippines - Houston Chronicle