Excelerate Energy, Inc.

Thank you for your patience, everyone. The Accelerate Energy 3Q 2022 earnings call will begin shortly. During the presentation, you will have the opportunity Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your patience, everyone. The Accelerate Energy 3Q 2022 earnings call will begin shortly. Please stand by. Thank you. hello everyone and welcome to the accelerate energy 3q 2022 earnings call my name is drew and i'll be coordinating your call today During today's presentation, if you would like to ask a question, you may do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. I would now like to turn the call over to Craig Hicks, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Yesterday afternoon, we released our third quarter earnings press release along with a presentation that our President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Kobos, and our Chief Financial Officer Dana Armstrong will speak to this morning. I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements on this call that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, and we make no obligation to update or revise them. Also during the call, we'll discuss several non-GAAP financial measures. we provided a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures at the back of the presentation. And with that, it is my pleasure to pass the call over to Stephen Kobos. STEPHEN KOBOS Hi there.

Thanks, Craig, and thank you all for joining us this morning. Accelerate delivered another strong quarter of financial results as we continue to advance our growth strategy and make good progress on our commercial opportunities. Against the backdrop of the most significant energy market disruption since the 1970s, we've seen the true value of Accelerate's flexible business model, which enables us to adapt our asset portfolio to deliver optimal solutions that scale with our customers' needs. During the quarter, we demonstrated once again our ability to navigate successfully the complexity of today's global LNG market. We are expanding our reach in both new and existing markets by pursuing attractive growth opportunities and deploying our flexible LNG infrastructure. In our short time as a public company, we've rebalanced our commercial portfolio to address increasing LNG demand and energy security concerns in Europe. Our fleet flexibility has also allowed us to capture economic upside from elevated FSRU charter rates while we continue to position our gas sales business for growth and increased profitability over the long term. On this morning's call, I'll focus my remarks on our third quarter financial results, the current state of the global LNG market, and progress on our commercial opportunities. Dana will then walk through the details of our quarterly performance and our 2022 financial outlook before we open the call to your questions. With that, let's turn to our results and highlights for the quarter. Our financial performance during the third quarter was strong. We delivered $39 million of adjusted net income and $86 million of adjusted EBITDA. Our bottom line results during the quarter were driven primarily by another solid contribution from our regasification business and our gas sales business in Brazil. On the commercial front, the deployment of the FSRU Exemplar to Finland remains on track and our charter hire for the vessel commenced on October 1st. We also signed a five-year time charter contract with Germany for the FSRU Excelsior. The Finland and Germany opportunities are great examples of how we've been able to redeploy seamlessly our assets to maximize our revenue. This ability to transition from on hire to technical stop to back on hire again in this manner is unprecedented in our industry. I'll also highlight that on October 3rd, we executed our shipbuilding contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries for HHI for our new state-of-the-art FSRU, which will be delivered in June 2026. Next, as we approach the end of our first year selling gas downstream in Brazil, we are pleased that our gas sales business is proving to be as valuable as planned. We look forward to continuing to sell regasified LNG in Brazil in the future. We are finalizing agreement with Petrobras to extend our gas sales operations there through the end of 2023, and we are awaiting final approvals. On August 31st, the FSRU exemplar completed its seasonal regasification charter at the Bahia Blanca gas port in Argentina. During this period, The exemplar regasified 12 LNG cargoes and provided energy security to Argentina during the southern hemisphere winter season. And this week, on November 8th, the Accelerated Board of Directors declared our second quarterly dividend as a public company. Now I'd like to share with you some perspectives on the current state of the global LNG market. Since our last earnings call in August, we have continued to see robust demand for flexible LNG infrastructure around the world as countries seek energy security and independence. In Europe, countries are bracing for winter, and while they have succeeded in filling natural gas storage capacity to over 90%, the supply outlook for the 2023-2024 heating season remains a concern. The September shutdown of and subsequent damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines cut off critical natural gas supplies to Europe and further intensified supply pressures. In real time, we've watched the situation that could have been solved politically evolve into one that now must be fixed with deployment of new infrastructure. The ongoing curtailment of Russian flows combined with increased natural gas storage injections heading into the winter season has led to increased LNG imports to Europe. The resulting increasing competition between OECD and non-OECD countries for finite LNG supply has exacerbated an already tight market. While Dutch TTF gas pricing has come down since the peak, it is expected to remain at elevated levels relative to history. This means that any additional supply disruptions or colder than expected weather could cause significant short-term spikes. The combination of European onshore storage levels being near capacity, increased LNG imports, and mild fall weather have resulted in a buildup of laden LNG vessels around Europe. LNG tankers off the coast of Europe are awaiting opportunities to offload cargoes at fully utilized regasification facilities. This highlights the need for FSRUs and regasification infrastructure. The increased demand for FSRUs and LNG in Europe is also influencing energy policy globally Some countries, particularly those in Southeast Asia, have chosen to reduce LNG consumption in the near term as a direct result of elevated pricing in the spot market. However, because LNG remains an important part of their future energy mix, they are continuing to seek long-term affordable LNG supply to meet their energy needs. We are confident that these countries, with the support and backing from international organizations, will be able to achieve this objective. And while affordability and security of supply remain at the forefront in Europe, decarbonization remains a priority now more than ever. It is clear that natural gas will continue to play an important role in the energy transition, serving as a complementary backstop to balance the intermittency of renewable energy. We believe that FSRUs are the most important asset class to support Europe's efforts to achieve energy security and transition to renewable energy sources without the risk of having stranded infrastructure over the long term. Now I'd like to take a moment to provide you with some important commercial updates. As I mentioned on our last call, we reached an agreement with the government of Finland for the exemplar to provide up to 5 billion cubic meters per year of regasified LNG capacity through a new regasification terminal in southern Finland. This flexible LNG terminal will bolster the energy security of Finland while also serving more broadly the needs of the Baltic Sea region. Although the exemplar is currently undergoing customer-requested winterization upgrades during its technical stop in Spain, our charter hire with Gasgrid Finland commenced on October 1st. Gasgrid Finland, by the way, has done an exceptional job developing the terminal facility, and the exemplar should begin regasification operations at the port of Enku, Finland, in December 2022. We're also moving forward with our plans to sell regasified LNG downstream of the terminal. We've established a gas marketing entity in Finland, opened a new office near Helsinki, and our commercial team is actively pursuing near-term gas sale opportunities. Next, we have our agreement with Germany. We've executed a definitive agreement with the German government to charter the FSRU Excelsior for five years. This is our second FSRU deployment to Europe since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and it demonstrates the ability of our business and our fleet to pivot quickly to capture new commercial opportunities. Excelsior will complete its charter in Israel at the end of this year and will go directly to its scheduled dry dock. Under the terms of agreement with the German government, the Excelsior will commence its charter hire in the first quarter of 2023. The vessel is expected to provide regasification services at Germany's planned LNG import terminal, which is being developed at the port of Wilhelmshaven by Tree Energy Solutions, E.ON, and ONGIE. Now let's turn to Southern Europe. We believe that there is a tremendous opportunity to sell regasified LNG to customers in Southern Europe downstream of our planned Flora terminal. Last quarter, we expanded the scope of our Albania project to include potential gas sales to countries linked to Europe's southern gas corridor, including Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Since then, the energy conflict between Europe and Russia has worsened. The damage to the Nord Stream pipelines has made the southern corridor as an entree point for LNG deliveries even more critical for Europe. And our planned VLORA terminal is even more valuable since it will add incremental capacity and alternative supply in the event of further disruptions. In recent weeks, we've engaged with third parties for the engineering design for both the 300 megawatt power plant and the LNG terminal in VLORA. While we are advancing the VLORA LNG terminal towards FID, We are also evaluating other downstream opportunities that would allow us to connect to existing natural gas pipelines in the region. We're excited about our prospects and will provide more detail on these opportunities as they progress. Now let's turn to Bangladesh. LNG remains critical to the country's economy. Our two FSRU terminals currently deliver approximately 20 percent of Bangladesh's natural gas supply. The government shares our view that long-term LNG supply will be a central part of its energy mix moving forward, and the country is advancing plans to sign new long-term LNG supply agreements to guarantee more affordable and predictable LNG pricing. As discussed last quarter, rapid economic growth in southwest Bangladesh is expected to drive increased energy demand in the region and greater need for regasified LNG as a fuel source. We have recently completed our negotiations with Petro Bangla for an LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement, or SPA, and are now awaiting formal approvals. We've also continued to advance the development of our planned Pira LNG terminal, We are currently negotiating term sheets for PIRA with PetroBangla ahead of signing the definitive agreements. And we are in conversations with potential strategic partners for all phases of the project. Turning to our last update on the commercial front, in October, we executed a shipbuilding contract with HHI for a new build FSRU, which will be delivered in June 26th. This decision to expand our fleet reflects the confidence we have in our long-term trajectory and the opportunity set ahead of Accelerate. The new FSRU will have storage capacity of 170,000 cubic meters of LNG and a maximum regasification capacity of 1 billion standard cubic feet per day. The state-of-the-art FSRU will be equipped with HHI's proprietary LNG regasification system, dual-fuel engines, best-in-class containment system and boil-off gas management, and other innovative technologies which will drive improved performance and efficiency while lowering emissions. Upon delivery, this new-build FSRU will enhance the capabilities of our existing fleet and support the execution of our integrated growth projects. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Dana.