Excelerate confirms US Northeast LNG cargo delay

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Excelerate Energy said Wednesday it delayed for "scheduling reasons" the first liquefied natural gas delivery into the new Northeast Gateway LNG site off the coast of Massachusetts until sometime in May.

Excelerate Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Cook said in a statement the cargo onboard the tanker Excellence would be used for commissioning activities at the Northeast Gateway (NEG), as well as for delivery to an LNG terminal in South America.

"The schedule for the delivery of the portion of the cargo destined for South America will require the ship to ship transfer of part of that cargo prior to the NEG commissioning activities. This is necessary to maintain fleet and terminal schedules and coincides with the start of South American heating season," the statement said.

A United States Coast Guard official said late Tuesday the cargo was delayed to the offshore buoy system, which was completed late last year. The system is capable of delivering up to 500 million cubic feet of natural gas daily to the New England market, or nearly 20 percent of regional demand.

The site is one of three new U.S. LNG import facilities that were set to receive their first cargoes this week.

On Tuesday, the first load of LNG arrived at the Freeport terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast, while the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana received its first cargo on Saturday.

LNG is natural gas cooled to liquid form for loading on special tankers and delivery to receiving terminals where it is regasified and pumped into onshore pipelines.

European utility RWE AG (RWEG.DE) recently bought half of Excelerate for $500 million. (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis; Editing by Marguerita Choy)