The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) executive who had oversight of a previous liquefied natural gas (LNG) project yesterday cautiously backed plans for a floating storage terminal near the island while warning of potential logistical and weather challenges.

Dillon Knowles, the ex-Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president who had responsibility for monitoring the former Tractebel LNG regasification plant and pipeline in Freeport Harbour some two decades ago, told Tribune Business that project had chosen its proposed location because of the impact rough weather conditions could have on ships berthing offshore.

An offshore LNG storage terminal and distribution hub is now being planned by Excelerate Energy for the 2028 second half, targeting a location near Grand Bahama, and - while supporting the project “on the face of it” - he said further details are required to understand how it will overcome sea and weather conditions that could disrupt vessel delivery and supply take-off schedules,.

Mr Knowles told this newspaper that, in principle, he supports “obviously any facility that is going to help burn cleaner, potentially less expensive fuel - with the activities in the Gulf, LNG is going up in price every day - but definitely it is cleaner fuel than anything else we burn in The Bahamas like diesel’.

And he added: “Any investment is a good investment for The Bahamas assuming it meets environmental and safety standards. LNG is the safest fuel available so I’m not concerned about the safety aspect.” Mr Knowles, too, said the environmental and construction issues relating to the Excelerate Energy initiative are “manageable if done right”.

However, he recalled Tracetebel’s concerns about LNG ships trying to berth and dock, load and unload cargo, offshore when it was eyeing its long-aborted project to supply the fuel to Florida from the site that Bahama Rock is now targeting for it aggregate mining.

“The siting of the facility would also be something to consider, both environmentally and operationally,” Mr Knowles said of Excelerate Energy’s planned offshore facility. “

“Back in the 2000s, I had carriage of the proposed Tractebel LNG storage and regasification project for the Bahamas Cement Company site that Bahama Rock now wants to mine. One of Tractebel’s major concerns was berthing vessels offshore in Grand Bahama’s weather conditions. Hence, Freeport Harbour was ideal as it was sheltered and would allow for berthing in all conditions. 

“With a small offshore terminal, I would be concerned with supply consistency. But not knowing the demand - frequency of vessels required - this may not be an issue.  The Tractebel throughput required daily turnaround of vessels. They couldn't afford a weather related delay. They had serious concerns with trying to berth vessels offshore in Grand Bahama’s often-fickle weather.”

However, Mr Knowles said Excelerate Energy and its contractors will “be figuring out” the concerns that Tractebel had in 2006-2007, and ensure that sea and weather conditions do no disrupt LNG deliveries to the proposed hub or its supply of this fuel to client vessels.

“On the face of it, I support it, but when the details come out, the devil’s in the details. On the face of it, it’s a good thing,” Mr Knowles told Tribune Business. “As for the economic benefit, any sustainable investment is a benefit to the country. Supporting LNG consumption in the country is a good thing as it is a clean fuel.

“I’d think they’d have to be close to land to accommodate crew changes and if they are ever going to supply LNG or gas to Grand Bahama Power Company. It needs to be in relatively close proximity to that.” Mr Knowles said that, if the Excelerate Energy hub did supply GB Power, either a pipeline would have to connect it to shore or LNG is transferred by ship.

Excelerate Energy’s top executive last week said he is “ecstatic about The Bahamas” and the planned “flagship” LNG hub and supply deal expected to generate a $15m boost to its annual adjusted operating income.

Steven Kobos, its president and chief executive, hailed his company’s 11-year agreement to supply the AxDo Bahamas joint venture while revealing that the volumes involved are “less than half the capacity” of the offshore LNG terminal and distribution hub it plans to locate near Grand Bahama by the 2028 second-half.

Disclosing that “total capital investment” in the proposed Grand Bahama hub will likely range between $85m-$95m, he and other Excelerate executives told Wall Street analysts during the company’s 2026 third quarter results conference call that The Bahamas is part of wider Caribbean ambitions that are projected to see the region deliver between $80m to $11m growth in operating income by 2029.

While Excelerate has signalled it has yet to obtain all the necessary Bahamas government and regulatory approvals, stating that the Grand Bahama offshore hub’s launch is subject to “permitting and construction timelines”, Mr Kobos indicated that the terminal will be centred on an existing LNG-carrying vessel that will be converted into a floating storage unit.

Disclosing that Excelerate had “sat on this until it was fully baked”, he reiterated that the 11-year supply agreement with AxDo Bahamas, a joint venture between Axpo, a Swiss energy producer and trader, and Bahamas-based Domicisle, an LNG supply, distribution and logistics provider, is providing the “anchor customer” and commercial feasibility for the Grand Bahama offshore terminal.

Tribune Business reported last week how the LNG purchased from Excelerate by AxDo Bahamas (Axpo and Domicisle) will be the fuel for Island Power Producers (IPP) 70 mega watt (MW) Arawak Cay power plant that will supply cruise ships docked in Nassau Cruise Port with cleaner energy. And it is also the LNG fuel source for Family Island independent power producers, thus playing a key role in the Government’s wider energy reform strategy.