Qatari shipowning vehicle Nakilat has finally made its long-planned break into the business of floating, storage and regasification units by buying into an Excelerate Energy vessel, prompting chatter that this could be the forerunner of a bigger tie-up with the US regas specialist.

Nakilat said this week that it had formed a joint venture with Excelerate, which would own a controlling 55% stake in the 150,900-cbm Exquisite (built 2009).