New Fortress Energy (NFE) is transferring 11 of its ships to a new joint venture formed with Apollo Global Management.

The companies said the new company — owned 80% by Apollo funds and 20% by NFE — is valued at approximately $2bn with a fleet of six floating storage and regasification units, two LNG carriers and three floating storage units.

“Together with Apollo, we are creating a leading LNG marine infrastructure platform to help accelerate the energy transition while freeing up capital to continue to invest into our Fast LNG and downstream LNG projects worldwide,” NFE chief executive Wes Edens said.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Apollo in creating a maritime infrastructure company that will help support NFE’s growing LNG infrastructure needs going forward.”

As part of the deal, NFE will receive roughly $1.1bn in proceeds, accounting for its share of the joint venture and paydown of existing debt.

NFE will also charter 10 of the 11 vessels for up to 20 years.

“Energy transition and energy reliability are global priorities and core to Apollo’s sustainable investing platform,” Apollo partner Brad Fierstein said.

“This is a high-quality portfolio that increases energy security around the world, accelerates decarbonisation efforts, and facilitates LNG use which is cleaner and more affordable than diesel. We look forward to investing behind the platform’s growth to drive a more sustainable future.”

In April 2021, NFE acquired 13 ships, including 10 LNG carriers and three FSRUs, when it bought Hygo Energy Transition and Golar LNG Partners for 31.4m shares and $580m in cash.

Mexico deals

The joint venture news comes the same day as NFE announced two deals in Mexico.

The first is with state-run Pemex, which will see NFE drill seven offshore wells over two years at the Lakach field in the Gulf of Mexico and deploy an FLNG unit to liquefy most of the extracted gas.

The other is with the country's Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to expand NFE's supply of natural gas to the agency's power plants in the state of Baja California Sur.

It will also see NFE sell its La Paz power plant to the CFE and create a new LNG hub in the Gulf of Mexico off Altamira, Tamaulipas with CFE supplying the feedgas to two NFE FLNG units.