New Fortress Energy (NFE) 10-K2021 FY Annual report

 Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Table of Contents

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this Annual Report to the “Company,” “NFE,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries. When used in a historical context, “our,” “us,” “we” or like terms refer to (i) prior to our conversion from a limited liability company to a corporation, New Fortress Energy LLC and its subsidiaries and (ii) following the conversion from a limited liability company to a corporation, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries. When used in a historical context that is prior to the completion of NFE’s initial public offering (“IPO”), “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to New Fortress Energy Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“New Fortress Energy Holdings”), our predecessor for financial reporting purposes. When used in a historical context, prior to completion of Mergers (as defined herein), “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, excluding Hygo Energy Transition Ltd. (“Hygo”) and its subsidiaries and Golar LNG Partners LP (“GMLP”) and its subsidiaries; and after completion of the Mergers, “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Hygo and its subsidiaries and GMLP and its subsidiaries.

LNG Supply Contracts

Liquefaction Assets

Fast LNG (FLNG)

Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs)

LNG Carriers (LNGCs)

Bogue Power Plant

Old Harbour Power Plant

Jamalco CHP Plant

PREPA San Juan Power Plant

Nicaragua Power Plant

Alunorte Alumina Refinery

Industrial End-User Sales

• major integrated marketers whose advantages include large amounts of capital and the ability to offer a wide range of services and market numerous products other than natural gas;

• producer marketers who sell natural gas they produce or which is produced by an affiliated company;

• small geographically focused marketers who focus their marketing on the geographic area in which their affiliated distributor operates; and

• aggregators who gather small volumes of natural gas from various sources, combine them and sell the larger volumes for more favorable prices and terms than would be possible selling the smaller volumes separately.

• large, multinational and national companies with longer operating histories, more development experience, greater name recognition, larger staffs and substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources;

• oil and gas producers who sell or control LNG derived from their international oil and gas properties; and

• purchasers located in other countries where prevailing market prices can be substantially different from those in the United States.

DOE Export

FERC Authorization

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Environmental Regulation

Environmental Regulation in Mexico

Environmental Regulation in Jamaica

Environmental Regulation in Nicaragua

Environmental Regulation in Ireland

Environmental Regulation in Brazil

U.S. and International Maritime Regulations of LNG Vessels

Protect and Preserve the Environment

Empower People Worldwide

Invest in Communities

Toward a Carbon-Free Future

An investment in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below. If any of the following risks were to occur, the value of our Class A common stock could be materially adversely affected or our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected and thus indirectly cause the value of our Class A common stock to decline. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial could also materially affect our business and the value of our Class A common stock. As a result of any of these risks, known or unknown, you may lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock. The risks discussed below also include forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements”.

Unless the context otherwise requires, references to “Company,” “NFE,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to (i) prior to the completion of Mergers, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, excluding Hygo Energy Transition Ltd. (“Hygo”) and its subsidiaries and Golar LNG Partners LP (“GMLP”) and its subsidiaries, and (ii) after completion of the Mergers, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Hygo and its subsidiaries and GMLP and its subsidiaries.

Some of the factors that could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects include the following:

We may be unable to successfully integrate the businesses and realize the anticipated benefits of the Mergers.

In 2021, we consummated the Mergers, which involve the integration of Hygo and GMLP with our existing business. The integration of these businesses is a complex, costly and time-consuming process. The success of the Mergers will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine each of Hygo and GMLP, which recently operated as independent companies, with our business and realize the anticipated benefits, including synergies, cost savings, innovation and operational efficiencies, from each combination. If we are unable to achieve these objectives within the anticipated time frame, or at all, the anticipated benefits may not be realized fully, or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected and the value of our common stock may be harmed. The integration of each of Hygo and GMLP into our business may result in material challenges, including, without limitation:

In the course of the due diligence review of each of Hygo and GMLP that we conducted prior to the consummation of each of the Mergers, we may not have discovered, or may have been unable to quantify, undisclosed liabilities or other issues of Hygo or GMLP and their respective subsidiaries. Moreover, we may not have adequate legal protection from potential liabilities of, or in respect of our acquisition of, Hygo or GMLP, irrespective of whether such potential liabilities were discovered or not. Examples of such undisclosed or potential liabilities or other issues may include, but are not limited to, pending or threatened litigation, regulatory matters, tax liabilities, indemnification of obligations, undisclosed counterparty termination rights, or undisclosed letter of credit or guarantee requirements. Any such undisclosed or potential liabilities or other issues could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, as a result of the Mergers, rating agencies may take negative actions against our credit ratings, which may increase our financing costs, including in connection with the financing of the Mergers.

We have a limited operating history, which may not be sufficient to evaluate our business and prospects.

We have a limited operating history and track record. As a result, our prior operating history and historical financial statements may not be a reliable basis for evaluating our business prospects or the value of our Class A common stock. We commenced operations on February 25, 2014, and we had net losses of approximately $78.2 million in 2018, $204.3 million in 2019, and $264.0 million in 2020. In 2021, we recognized income of $92.7 million. Our limited operating history also means that we continue to develop and implement our strategies, policies and procedures, including those related to project development planning, operational supply chain planning, data privacy and other matters. We cannot give you any assurance that our strategy will be successful or that we will be able to implement our strategy on a timely basis, if at all, or achieve our internal model or that our assumptions will be accurate. Furthermore, in 2021, we consummated the Mergers, which involve the integration of Hygo and GMLP with our existing business.  Our operating history prior to 2021 does not reflect the combination of these businesses and our limited operating history may not accurately reflect our business following consummation of the Mergers.  The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine each of Hygo and GMLP, which recently operated as independent companies, with our business and realize the anticipated benefits, failure of which could result in a material adverse effect upon our operations and business. See “—We may be unable to successfully integrate the businesses and realize the anticipated benefits of the Mergers.”

We may not be profitable for an indeterminate period of time.

Our ability to implement our business strategy may be materially and adversely affected by many known and unknown factors.

We are subject to various construction risks.

We are involved in the development of complex small, medium and large-scale engineering and construction projects, including our Facilities, Liquefaction Facilities, power plants, and related infrastructure, which are often developed in multiple stages involving commercial and governmental negotiations, site planning, due diligence, permit requests, environmental impact studies, permit applications and review, marine logistics planning and transportation and end-user delivery logistics. In addition to our facilities, these infrastructure projects can include the development and construction of facilities as part of our customer contracts. Projects of this type are subject to a number of risks including, among others:

Furthermore, because of the nature of our infrastructure, we are dependent on interconnection with transmission systems and other infrastructure projects of third parties, including our customers, and/or governmental entities. Such third-party projects can be greenfield or brownfield projects, including modifications to existing infrastructure or increases in capacity to existing facilities, among others, and are subject to various construction risks.  Delays from such third parties or governmental entities could prevent connection to our projects and generate delays in our ability to develop our own projects.  In addition, a primary focus of our business is the development of projects in foreign jurisdictions, including in locations where we have no prior development experience, and we expect to continue expanding into new jurisdictions in the future. These risks can be increased in jurisdictions where legal processes, language differences, cultural expectations, currency exchange requirements, political relations with the U.S. government, changes in the political views and structure, government representatives, new regulations, regulatory reviews, employment laws and diligence requirements can make it more difficult, time-consuming and expensive to develop a project.  See “–Risks Related to the Jurisdictions in which we Operate—We are subject to the economic, political, social and other conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate”.

The occurrence of any one of these factors, whatever the cause, could result in unforeseen delays or cost overruns to our projects.  Delays in the development beyond our estimated timelines, or amendments or change orders to our construction contracts, could result in increases to our development costs beyond our original estimates, which could require us to obtain additional financing or funding and could make the project less profitable than originally estimated or possibly not profitable at all. Further, any such delays could cause a delay in our anticipated receipt of revenues, a loss of one or more customers in the event of significant delays, and our inability to meet milestones or conditions precedents in our customer contracts, which could lead to delay penalties and potentially a termination of agreements with our customers. We have experienced time delays and cost overruns in the construction and development of our projects as a result of the occurrence of various of the above factors, and no assurance can be given that we will not continue to experience in the future similar events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity.

Operation of our infrastructure, facilities and vessels involves significant risks.

Our existing infrastructure, facilities and vessels and expected future operations and businesses face operational risks, including, but not limited to, the following:

Furthermore, we are subject to risks related to marine LNG operations with respect to our FSRUs and LNG carriers, which operations are complex and technically challenging and subject to mechanical risks and problems. Marine LNG operations are subject to a variety of risks, including, among others, marine disasters, piracy, bad weather, mechanical failures, environmental accidents, epidemics, grounding, fire, explosions and collisions, human error, and war and terrorism. An accident involving our cargoes or any of our chartered vessels could result in death or injury to persons, loss of property or environmental damage; delays in the delivery of cargo; loss of revenues; termination of charter contracts; governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business; higher insurance rates; and damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. Any of these circumstances or events could increase our costs or lower our revenues. If our chartered vessels suffer damage as a result of such an incident, they may need to be repaired. Repairs and maintenance costs for existing vessels are difficult to predict and may be substantially higher than for vessels we have operated since they were built and result in higher than anticipated operating expenses or require additional capital expenditures. The loss of earnings while these vessels are being repaired would decrease our results of operations. If a vessel we charter were involved in an accident with the potential risk of environmental impacts or contamination, the resulting media coverage could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, our business, our results of operations and cash flows and weaken our financial condition. Our marine operating expenses depend on a variety of factors including crew costs, provisions, deck and engine stores and spares, lubricating oil, insurance, maintenance and repairs and shipyard costs, many of which are beyond its control, such as the overall economic impacts caused by the global COVID-19 outbreak. Factors such as increased cost of qualified and experienced seafaring crew and changes in regulatory requirements could also increase operating expenditures. Future increases to operational costs are likely to occur. If costs rise, they could materially and adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, operational problems may lead to loss of revenue or higher than anticipated operating expenses or require additional capital expenditures. Any of these results could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We cannot assure you that future occurrences of any of the events listed above or any other events of a similar or dissimilar nature would not significantly decrease or eliminate the revenues from, or significantly increase the costs of operating, our facilities or assets.

We depend on third-party contractors, operators and suppliers.

We rely on third-party contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers and operators for the development, construction and operation of our projects and assets. We have not yet entered into binding contracts for the construction, development and operation of all of our facilities and assets, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to enter into the contracts required on commercially favorable terms, if at all, which could expose us to fluctuations in pricing and potential changes to our planned schedule. If we are unable to enter into favorable contracts, we may not be able to construct and operate these assets as expected, or at all. Furthermore, these agreements are the result of arms-length negotiations and subject to change.  There can be no assurance that contractors and suppliers will perform their obligations successfully under their agreements with us.  If any contractor is unable or unwilling to perform according to the negotiated terms and timetable of its respective agreement for any reason or terminates its agreement for any reason, we would be required to engage a substitute contractor, which could be particularly difficult in certain of the markets in which we plan to operate. For example, each of our vessels is operated and maintained by GLNG or its affiliates pursuant to ship management agreements. Any failure by GLNG or its affiliates in the operation of our vessels could have an adverse effect on our maritime operations and could result in our failure to deliver LNG to our customers as required under our customer agreements. Although some agreements may provide for liquidated damages if the contractor or supplier fails to perform in the manner required with respect to its obligations, the events that trigger such liquidated damages may delay or impair the completion or operation of the facility, and any liquidated damages that we receive may be delayed or insufficient to cover the damages that we suffer as a result of any such delay or impairment, including, among others, any covenants or obligations by us to pay liquidated damages or penalties under our agreements with our customers, development services, the supply of natural gas, LNG or steam and the supply of power, as well as increased expenses or reduced revenue. Such liquidated damages may also be subject to caps on liability, and we may not have full protection to seek payment from our contractors to compensate us for such payments and other consequences. We may hire contractors to perform work in jurisdictions where they do not have previous experience, or contractors we have not previously hired to perform work in jurisdictions we are beginning to develop, which may lead to such contractors being unable to perform according to its respective agreement. Furthermore, we may have disagreements with our contractors about different elements of the construction process, which could lead to the assertion of rights and remedies under their contracts and increase the cost of the applicable facility or result in a contractor’s unwillingness to perform further work. If we are unable to construct and commission our facilities and assets as expected, or, when and if constructed, they do not accomplish our goals, or if we experience delays or cost overruns in construction, our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity could be materially and adversely affected.

We operate in a highly regulated environment and our operations could be adversely affected by actions by governmental entities or changes to regulations and legislation

Our business is highly regulated and subject to numerous governmental laws, rules, regulations and requires permits, authorizations and various governmental and agency approvals, in the various jurisdictions in which we operate, that impose various restrictions and obligations that may have material effects on our business and results of operations. Each of the applicable regulatory requirements and limitations is subject to change, either through new regulations enacted on the federal, state or local level, or by new or modified regulations that may be implemented under existing law. The nature and extent of any changes in these laws, rules, regulations and permits may be unpredictable, have retroactive effects, and may have material effects on our business. Future legislation and regulations or changes in existing legislation and regulations, or interpretations thereof, such as those relating to the liquefaction, storage, or regasification of LNG, or its transportation could cause additional expenditures, restrictions and delays in connection with our operations as well as other future projects, the extent of which cannot be predicted and which may require us to limit substantially, delay or cease operations in some circumstances.

In addition, these rules and regulation are subject to decision, administration and implementation by various governmental agencies and bodies, which take actions or decisions that adversely affect our business or operations.  For example, in March 2021, an amendment to the Mexican Power Industry Law (Ley de la Industria Electrica) was published which would reduce the dispatch priority of privately-owned power plants compared to state-owned power plants in Mexico. The amendment was determined to be unconstitutional by a Mexican court, but the administration may propose a constitutional amendment to implement the change. More recently, on May 4, 2021, an amendment to the Mexican Hydrocarbons Law (Ley de Hidrocarburos) was published which would negatively impact our permits in Mexico. This amendment is being challenged as unconstitutional. If the amendment is enforced against us, it could negatively affect our permitting applications, our revenue and results of operations. If either amendment is enforced against us, it could negatively affect our plant’s dispatch and our revenue and results of operations. In addition, the Brazilian government implemented fundamental changes in the regulation of the power industry in legislation passed in 2004 known as the New Regulatory Framework (Lei do Novo Modelo do Setor Elétrico). Challenges to the constitutionality of the New Regulatory Framework are still pending before the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), although preliminary injunctions have been dismissed. It is not possible to estimate when these proceedings will be finally decided. If all or part of the New Regulatory Framework were held to be unconstitutional, there would be uncertain consequences for the validity of existing regulation and the further development of the regulatory framework. The outcome of the legal proceedings is difficult to predict, but it could have an adverse impact on the entire energy sector, including our Brazilian business and operations. Due to the duration of the lawsuit, it is possible that the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court will not give retroactive effect to its decision, but rather preserve the validity of past acts applying a judicial practice known as modulation of effects. Revised, reinterpreted or additional laws and regulations that delay our ability to obtain permits necessary to commence operations or that result in increased compliance costs or additional operating costs and restrictions could have an adverse effect on our business, the ability to expand our business, including into new markets, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and prospects.

In the United States and Puerto Rico, approvals of the DOE under Section 3 of the NGA, as well as several other material governmental and regulatory permits, approvals and authorizations, including under the CAA and the CWA and their state analogues, may be required in order to construct and operate an LNG facility and export LNG. Permits, approvals and authorizations obtained from the DOE and other federal and state regulatory agencies also contain ongoing conditions, and additional requirements may be imposed. Certain federal permitting processes may trigger the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), which requires federal agencies to evaluate major agency actions that have the potential to significantly impact the environment. Compliance with NEPA may extend the time and/or increase the costs for obtaining necessary governmental approvals associated with our operations and create independent risk of legal challenges to the adequacy of the NEPA analysis, which could result in delays that may adversely affect our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and profitability. On July 15, 2020, the White House Council on Environmental Quality issued a final rule revising its NEPA regulations. These regulations have taken legal effect, and although they have been challenged in court, they have not been stayed. The Council on Environmental Quality has announced that it is engaged in an ongoing and comprehensive review of the revised regulations and is assessing whether and how the Council may ultimately undertake a new rulemaking to revise the regulations. The impacts of any such future revisions that may be adopted are uncertain and indeterminable for the foreseeable future. On June 18, 2020, we received an order from FERC, which asked us to explain why our San Juan Facility is not subject to FERC’s jurisdiction under section 3 of the NGA. Because we do not believe that the San Juan Facility is jurisdictional, we provided our reply to FERC on July 20, 2020, and requested that FERC act expeditiously. On March 19, 2021, FERC issued an order that the San Juan Facility does fall under FERC jurisdiction. FERC directed us to file an application for authorization to operate the San Juan Facility within 180 days of the order, which is September 15, 2021, but also found that allowing operation of the San Juan Facility to continue during the pendency of an application is in the public interest. FERC also concluded that no enforcement action against us is warranted, presuming we comply with the requirements of the order. Parties to the proceeding, including the Company, sought rehearing of the March 19, 2021, FERC order, and FERC denied all requests for rehearing in an order issued on July 15, 2021.  We have filed petitions for review of FERC’s March 19, 2021, and July 15, 2021, orders with the United States Court of the Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  To date, no other party has sought review of FERC’s orders.  While our petitions for review are pending and in order to comply with the FERC’s directive, on September 15, 2021, we filed an application for authorization to operate the San Juan Facility, which remains pending.

We may not comply with each of these requirements in the future, or at all times, including any changes to such laws and regulations or their interpretation. The failure to satisfy any applicable legal requirements may result in the suspension of our operations, the imposition of fines and/or remedial measures, suspension or termination of permits or other authorization, as well as potential administrative, civil and criminal penalties, which may significantly increase compliance costs and the need for additional capital expenditures.

Failure to obtain and maintain permits, approvals and authorizations from governmental and regulatory agencies and third parties on favorable terms could impede operations and construction.

A key part of our business strategy is to attract new customers by agreeing to finance and develop new facilities, power plants, liquefaction facilities and related infrastructure in order to win new customer contracts for the supply of natural gas, LNG, steam or power. This strategy requires us to invest capital and time to develop a project in exchange for the ability to sell our products and generate fees from customers in the future. When we develop these projects, our required capital expenditure may be significant, and we typically do not generate meaningful fees from customers until the project has commenced commercial operations, which may take a year or more to achieve. If the project is not successfully developed for any reason, we face the risk of not recovering some or all of our invested capital, which may be significant. If the project is successfully developed, we face the risks that our customers may not fulfill their payment obligations or may not fulfill other performance obligations that impact our ability to collect payment. Our customer contracts and development agreements do not fully protect us against this risk and, in some instances, may not provide any meaningful protection from this risk. This risk is heightened in foreign jurisdictions, particularly if our counterparty is a government or government-related entity because any attempt to enforce our contractual or other rights may involve long and costly litigation where the ultimate outcome is uncertain. If we invest capital in a project where we do not receive the payments we expect, we will have less capital to invest in other projects, our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected, and we could face the inability to comply with the terms of our existing debt or other agreements, which would exacerbate these adverse effects.

Failure to maintain sufficient working capital could limit our growth and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have significant working capital requirements, primarily driven by the delay between the purchase of and payment for natural gas and the extended payment terms that we offer our customers. Differences between the date when we pay our suppliers and the date when we receive payments from our customers may adversely affect our liquidity and our cash flows. We expect our working capital needs to increase as our total business increases. If we do not have sufficient working capital, we may not be able to pursue our growth strategy, respond to competitive pressures or fund key strategic initiatives, such as the development of our facilities, which may harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability to generate revenues is substantially dependent on our current and future long-term agreements and the performance by customers under such agreements.

Our business strategy relies upon our ability to successfully market our products to our existing and new customers and enter into or replace our long-term supply and services agreements for the sale of natural gas, LNG, steam and power. If we contract with our customers on short-term contracts, our pricing can be subject to more fluctuations and less favorable terms, and our earnings are likely to become more volatile. An increasing emphasis on the short-term or spot LNG market may in the future require us to enter into contracts based on variable market prices, as opposed to contracts based on a fixed rate, which could result in a decrease in its cash flow in periods when the market price for shipping LNG is depressed or insufficient funds are available to cover its financing costs for related vessels.  Our ability to generate cash is dependent on these customers’ continued willingness and ability to continue purchasing our products and services and to perform their obligations under their respective contracts. Their obligations may include certain nomination or operational responsibilities, construction or maintenance of their own facilities which are necessary to enable us to deliver and sell natural gas or LNG, and compliance with certain contractual representations and warranties. Further, adverse economic conditions in our industry increase the risk of nonpayment and nonperformance by customers, particularly customers that have sub-investment grade credit ratings. The COVID-19 pandemic could adversely impact our customers through decreased demand for power due to decreased economic activity and tourism, or through the adverse economic impact of the pandemic on their power customers. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including governmental and other third -party responses thereto, on our customers could enhance the risk of nonpayment by such customers under our contracts, which would negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In particular, JPS and SJPC, which are public utility companies in Jamaica, could be subject to austerity measures imposed on Jamaica by the International Monetary Fund (the “IMF”) and other international lending organizations. Jamaica is currently subject to certain public spending limitations imposed by agreements with the IMF, and any changes under these agreements could limit JPS’s and SJPC’s ability to make payments under their long-term GSAs and, in the case of JPS, its ability to make payments under its PPA, with us. In addition, PREPA is currently subject to bankruptcy proceedings pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. As a result, PREPA’s ability to meet its payment obligations under its contracts will be largely dependent upon funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or other sources. PREPA’s contracting practices in connection with restoration and repair of PREPA’s electrical grid in Puerto Rico, and the terms of certain of those contracts, have been subject to comment and are the subject of review and hearings by U.S. federal and Puerto Rican governmental entities. In the event that PREPA does not have or does not obtain the funds necessary to satisfy obligations to us under our agreement with PREPA or terminates our agreement prior to the end of the agreed term, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. If any of these customers fails to perform its obligations under its contract for the reasons listed above or for any other reason, our ability to provide products or services and our ability to collect payment could be negatively impacted, which could materially adversely affect our operating results, cash flow and liquidity, even if we were ultimately successful in seeking damages from such customer for a breach of contract.

Our current lack of asset and geographic diversification could have an adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.

The substantial majority of our anticipated revenue in 2022 will be dependent upon our assets and customers in Jamaica, Brazil and Puerto Rico. Our operations in Jamaica began in October 2016, when our Montego Bay Facility commenced commercial operations, and continue to grow, and our San Juan Facility became fully operational in the third quarter of 2020. We commenced our operations in Brazil in 2021, following the Mergers, and have been operating in Brazil through our joint venture for the Sergipe Facility and the Sergipe Power Plant.  Jamaica, Brazil and Puerto Rico have historically experienced economic volatility and the general condition and performance of their economies, over which we have no control, may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Brazil are subject to acts of terrorism or sabotage and natural disasters, in particular hurricanes, extreme weather conditions, crime and similar other risks which may negatively impact our operations in the region. See “—Risks Related to the Jurisdictions in which we Operate—We are subject to the economic, political, social and other conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate”. We may also be affected by trade restrictions, such as tariffs or other trade controls. Additionally, tourism is a significant driver of economic activity in the Caribbean and Brazil and directly and indirectly affects local demand for our LNG and therefore our results of operations. Trends in tourism in the Caribbean and Brazil are primarily driven by the economic condition of the tourists’ home country or territory, the condition of their destination, and the availability, affordability and desirability of air travel and cruises. Additionally, unexpected factors could reduce tourism at any time, including local or global economic recessions, terrorism, travel restrictions, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, severe weather or natural disasters. Due to our current lack of asset and geographic diversification, an adverse development at our Facilities in Jamaica, Brazil or Puerto Rico, in the energy industry or in the economic conditions in Jamaica, Brazil or Puerto Rico, would have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and operating results than if we maintained more diverse assets and operating areas.

Because we are currently dependent upon a limited number of customers, the loss of a significant customer could adversely affect our operating results.

Our current results of operations and liquidity are, and will continue to be in the near future, substantially dependent upon a limited number of customers, including JPS (as defined herein), SJPC (as defined herein) and PREPA (as defined herein), which have each entered into long-term GSAs and, in the case of JPS, a PPA in relation to the power produced at the CHP Plant (as defined herein), with us, and Jamalco (as defined herein), which has entered into a long-term SSA with us, and which represent a substantial majority of our income. Our operating results are currently contingent on our ability to maintain LNG, natural gas, steam and power sales to these customers. Our near-term ability to generate cash is dependent on these customers’ continued willingness and ability to continue purchasing our products and services and to perform their obligations under their respective contracts.  The loss of any of these customers could have an adverse effect on our revenues and we may not be able to enter into a replacement agreement on terms as favorable as the terminated agreement. We may be unable to accomplish our business plan to diversify and expand our customer base by attracting a broad array of customers, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to convert our anticipated customer pipeline into binding long-term contracts, and if we fail to convert potential sales into actual sales, we will not generate the revenues and profits we anticipate.

We are actively pursuing a significant number of new contracts for the sale of LNG, natural gas, steam, and power with multiple counterparties in multiple jurisdictions.  Counterparties commemorate their purchasing commitments for these products in various degrees of formality ranging from traditional contracts to less formal arrangements, including non-binding letters of intent, non-binding memorandums of understanding, non-binding term sheets and responding to requests for proposals with potential customers. These agreements and any award following a request for proposals are subject to negotiating final definitive documents. The negotiation process may cause us or our potential counterparty to adjust the material terms of the agreement, including the price, term, schedule and any related development obligations.  We cannot assure you if or when we will enter into binding definitive agreements for transactions initially described in non-binding agreements, and the terms of our binding agreements may differ materially from the terms of the related non-binding agreements. In addition, the effectiveness of our binding agreements can be subject to a number of conditions precedent that may not materialize, rendering such agreements non-effective.  Moreover, while certain of our long-term contracts contain minimum volume commitments, our expected sales to customers under existing contracts may be substantially in excess of such minimum volume commitments. Our near-term ability to generate cash is dependent on these customers’ continued willingness and ability to nominate in excess of such minimum quantities and to perform their obligations under their respective contracts. Given the variety of sales processes and counterparty acknowledgements of the volumes they will purchase, we sometimes identify potential sales volumes as being either “Committed” or “In Discussion.” “Committed” volumes generally refer to the volumes that management expects to be sold under binding contracts or awards under requests for proposals.  “In Discussion” volumes generally refer to volumes related to potential customers that management is actively negotiating, responding to a request for proposals, or with respect to which management anticipates a request for proposals or competitive bid process to be announced based on discussions with potential customers. Management’s estimations of “Committed” and “In Discussion” volumes may prove to be incorrect.  Accordingly, we cannot assure you that “Committed” or “In Discussion” volumes will result in actual sales, and such volumes should not be used to predict the company’s future results. We may never sign a binding agreement to sell our products to the counterparty, or we may sell much less volume than we estimate, which could result in our inability to generate the revenues and profits we anticipate, having a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our contracts with our customers are subject to termination under certain circumstances.

Our contracts with our customers contain various termination rights. For example, each of our long-term customer contracts, including the contracts with JPS, SJPC, Jamalco and PREPA, contain various termination rights allowing our customers to terminate the contract, including, without limitation:

We may not be able to replace these contracts on desirable terms, or at all, if they are terminated. Contracts that we enter into in the future may contain similar provisions. If any of our current or future contracts are terminated, such termination could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.

Competition in the LNG industry is intense, and some of our competitors have greater financial, technological and other resources than we currently possess.

We operate in the highly competitive industry for LNG and face intense competition from independent, technology-driven companies as well as from both major and other independent oil and natural gas companies and utilities, in the various markets in which we operate and many of which have been in operation longer than us. Various factors relating to competition may prevent us from entering into new or replacement customer contracts on economically comparable terms to existing customer contracts, or at all, including , among others:

In addition, we may not be able to successfully execute on our strategy to supply our existing and future customers with LNG produced primarily at our own Liquefaction Facilities upon completion of the Pennsylvania Facility or through our Fast LNG solution. Various competitors have and are developing LNG facilities in other markets, which will compete with our LNG facilities, including our Fast LNG solution. Some of these competitors have longer operating histories, more development experience, greater name recognition, larger staffs, larger and more versatile fleets, and substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we currently possess. We also face competition for the contractors needed to build our facilities and skilled employees. See “—We may experience increased labor costs and regulation, and the unavailability of skilled workers or our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel, as well as our ability to comply with such labor laws, could adversely affect us”. The superior resources that some of these competitors have available for deployment could allow them to compete successfully against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, ability to realize benefits from future projects, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and prospects. We anticipate that an increasing number of marine transportation companies, including many with strong reputations and extensive resources and experience will enter the LNG transportation market and the FSRU market. This increased competition may cause greater price competition for our products. As a result of these factors, we may be unable to expand our relationships with existing customers or to obtain new customers on a favorable basis, if at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Failure of LNG to be a competitive source of energy in the markets in which we operate, and seek to operate, could adversely affect our expansion strategy.

Our operations are, and will be, dependent upon LNG being a competitive source of energy in the markets in which we operate. In the United States, due mainly to a historic abundant supply of natural gas and discoveries of substantial quantities of unconventional or shale natural gas, imported LNG has not developed into a significant energy source. The success of the domestic liquefaction component of our business plan is dependent, in part, on the extent to which natural gas can, for significant periods and in significant volumes, be produced in the United States at a lower cost than the cost to produce some domestic supplies of other alternative energy sources, and that it can be transported at reasonable rates through appropriately scaled infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic and actions by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) have significantly impacted energy markets, and the price of oil has recently traded at historic low prices, making it a more competitive fuel source to LNG. Potential expansion in the Caribbean, Latin America and other parts of world where we may operate is primarily dependent upon LNG being a competitive source of energy in those geographical locations. For example, in the Caribbean, due mainly to a lack of regasification infrastructure and an underdeveloped international market for natural gas, natural gas has not yet developed into a significant energy source. In Brazil, hydroelectric power generation is the predominant source of electricity and LNG is one of several other energy sources used to supplement hydroelectric generation. The success of our operations is dependent, in part, on the extent to which LNG can, for significant periods and in significant volumes, be produced internationally and delivered to our customers at a lower cost than the cost to deliver other alternative energy sources.

Political instability in foreign countries that export LNG, or strained relations between such countries and countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, may also impede the willingness or ability of LNG suppliers and merchants in such countries to export LNG to the Caribbean, Latin America and other countries where we operate or seek to operate. Furthermore, some foreign suppliers of LNG may have economic or other reasons to direct their LNG to other markets or from or to our competitors’ LNG facilities. Natural gas also competes with other sources of energy, including coal, oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar energy, which may become available at a lower cost in certain markets. As a result of these and other factors, natural gas may not be a competitive source of energy in the markets we intend to serve or elsewhere. The failure of natural gas to be a competitive supply alternative to oil and other alternative energy sources could adversely affect our ability to deliver LNG or natural gas to our customers on a commercial basis, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, ability to realize benefits from future projects, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and prospects.

Adverse trends or developments affecting any of these factors, including the timing of the impact of these factors in relation to our purchases and sales of natural gas and LNG could result in increases in the prices we have to pay for natural gas or LNG, which could materially and adversely affect the performance of our customers, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects. The COVID-19 pandemic and certain actions by OPEC related to the supply of oil in the market have caused volatility and disruption in the price of oil which may negatively impact our potential customers’ willingness or ability to enter into new contracts for the purchase of natural gas. Additionally, in situations where our supply chain has capacity constraints and as a result we are unable to receive all volumes under our long-term LNG supply agreements, our supplier may sell volumes of LNG in a mitigation sale to third parties. In these cases, the factors above may impact the price and amount we receive under mitigation sales and we may incur losses that would have an adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Conversely, current market conditions have made LNG values high relative to long term pricing benchmarks, which has given LNG sellers the potential ability to fail to deliver volumes, pay the contractual penalty, but divert LNG to more profitable markets.  Recently, the LNG industry has experienced increased volatility. If market disruptions and bankruptcies of third-party LNG suppliers and shippers negatively impacts our ability to purchase a sufficient amount of LNG or significantly increases our costs for purchasing LNG, our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity could be materially and adversely affected. There can be no assurance we will achieve our target cost or pricing goals. In particular, because we have not currently procured fixed-price, long-term LNG supply to meet all future customer demand, increases in LNG prices and/or shortages of LNG supply could adversely affect our profitability. Additionally, we intend to rely on long-term, largely fixed-price contracts for the feedgas that we need in order to manufacture and sell our LNG. Our actual costs and any profit realized on the sale of our LNG may vary from the estimated amounts on which our contracts for feedgas were originally based. There is inherent risk in the estimation process, including significant changes in the demand for and price of LNG as a result of the factors listed above, many of which are outside of our control. If LNG were to become unavailable for current or future volumes of natural gas due to repairs or damage to supplier facilities or tankers, lack of capacity, impediments to international shipping or any other reason, our ability to continue delivering natural gas, power or steam to end-users could be restricted, thereby reducing our revenues. Any permanent interruption at any key LNG supply chains that caused a material reduction in volumes transported on or to our tankers and facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.

Our risk management strategies cannot eliminate all LNG price and supply risks. In addition, any non-compliance with our risk management strategies could result in significant financial losses.

Our strategy is to maintain a manageable balance between LNG purchases, on the one hand, and sales or future delivery obligations, on the other hand. Through these transactions, we seek to earn a margin for the LNG purchased by selling LNG for physical delivery to third-party users, such as public utilities, shipping/marine cargo companies, industrial users, railroads, trucking fleets and other potential end-users converting from traditional ADO or oil fuel to natural gas. These strategies cannot, however, eliminate all price risks. For example, any event that disrupts our anticipated supply chain could expose us to risk of loss resulting from price changes if we are required to obtain alternative supplies to cover these transactions. We are also exposed to basis risks when LNG is purchased against one pricing index and sold against a different index. Moreover, we are also exposed to other risks, including price risks on LNG we own, which must be maintained in order to facilitate transportation of the LNG to our customers or to our Facilities. If we were to incur a material loss related to commodity price risks, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We may not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of LNG or natural gas in sufficient quantities and/or at economically attractive prices to satisfy our delivery obligations under the GSAs, PPAs and SSAs.

Under our GSAs, PPAs and SSAs, we are required to deliver to our customers specified amounts of LNG, natural gas, power and steam, respectively, at specified times and within certain specifications, all of which requires us to obtain sufficient amounts of LNG from third-party LNG suppliers or our own portfolio. We may not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of sufficient quantities of LNG to satisfy those delivery obligations, which may provide a counterparty with the right to terminate its GSA, PPA or SSA, as applicable, or subject us to penalties and indemnification obligations under those agreements. While we have entered into three supply agreements for the purchase of approximately 630 TBtu of LNG between 2022 and 2030, we may need to purchase significant additional LNG volumes to meet our delivery obligations to our downstream customers. Price fluctuations in natural gas and LNG may make it expensive or uneconomical for us to acquire adequate supply of these items or to sell our inventory of natural gas or LNG at attractive prices. Failure to secure contracts for the purchase of a sufficient amount of LNG or at favorable prices could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity. Additionally, we are dependent upon third-party LNG suppliers and shippers and other tankers and facilities to provide delivery options to and from our tankers and energy-related infrastructure. If any third parties were to default on their obligations under our contracts or seek bankruptcy protection, we may not be able to replace such contracts or purchase LNG on the spot market or receive a sufficient quantity of LNG in order to satisfy our delivery obligations under our GSAs, PPAs and SSAs or at favorable terms. Under tanker charters, we will be obligated to make payments for our chartered tankers regardless of use. We may not be able to enter into contracts with purchasers of LNG in quantities equivalent to or greater than the amount of tanker capacity we have purchased, as our vessels maybe be too small for those obligations. Any such failure to purchase or receive delivery of LNG or natural gas in sufficient quantities could result in our failure to satisfy our obligations to our customers, which could lead to delay penalties and potentially a termination of agreements with our customers. Any such failure to sell our inventory of natural gas or LNG at attractive prices could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity.

We may not be able to fully utilize the capacity of our FSRUs and other facilities.

Our FSRU facilities have significant excess capacity that is currently not dedicated to a particular anchor customer. Part of our business strategy is to utilize undedicated excess capacity of our FSRU facilities to serve additional downstream customers in the regions in which we operate. However, we have not secured, and we may be unable to secure, commitments for all of our excess capacity. Factors which could cause us to contract less than full capacity include difficulties in negotiations with potential counterparties and factors outside of our control such as the price of and demand for LNG. For example, the owner and operator of the Sergipe Facility, CELSE, has the right to utilize 100% of the capacity at the Sergipe Facility pursuant to the Sergipe FSRU Charter. In order to utilize the excess capacity of the Sergipe Facility, we would need to obtain the consent of CELSE and the senior lenders under CELSE’s financing arrangements. Failure to secure commitments for less than full capacity could impact our future revenues and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

LNG that is processed and/or stored on FSRUs and transported via pipeline is subject to risk of loss or damage.

LNG processed and stored on FSRUs may be subject to loss or damage resulting from equipment malfunction, faulty handling, ageing or otherwise. We could bear the risk of loss or damage to all LNG for the period of time during which LNG is stored on an FSRU or is dispatched to a pipeline. Any such disruption to the supply of LNG and natural gas may lead to delays, disruptions or curtailments in the production of power at our Facilities, which could materially and adversely affect our revenues, financial condition and results of operations.

The operation of our vessels is dependent on our ability to deploy our vessels to an NFE terminal or to long-term charters.

Our principal strategy for our FSRU and LNG carriers is to provide steady and reliable shipping, regasification and marine operations to NFE terminals and, to the extent favorable to our business, replace or enter into new long-term carrier time charters for our vessels. Most requirements for new LNG projects continue to be provided on a long-term basis, though the level of spot voyages and short-term time charters of less than 12 months in duration together with medium term charters of up to five years has increased in recent years. This trend is expected to continue as the spot market for LNG expands. More frequent changes to vessel sizes, propulsion technology and emissions profile, together with an increasing desire by charterers to access modern tonnage could also reduce the appetite of charterers to commit to long-term charters that match their full requirement period. As a result, the duration of long-term charters could also decrease over time. We may also face increased difficulty entering into long-term time charters upon the expiration or early termination of our contracts. The process of obtaining long-term charters for FSRUs and LNG carriers is highly competitive and generally involves an intensive screening process and competitive bids, and often extends for several months. If we lose any of our charterers and are unable to re-deploy the related vessel to a NFE terminal or into a new replacement contract for an extended period of time, we will not receive any revenues from that vessel, but we will be required to pay expenses necessary to maintain the vessel in seaworthy operating condition and to service any associated debt. In addition, it is an event of default under the credit facilities related to all of our vessels if the time charter of any vessel related to any such credit facility is cancelled, rescinded or frustrated and we are unable to secure a suitable replacement charter, post additional security or make certain significant prepayments. Any event of default under GMLP’s credit facilities would result in acceleration of amounts due thereunder.

We rely on tankers and other vessels outside of our fleet for our LNG transportation and transfer.

In addition to our own fleet of vessels, we rely on third-party ocean-going tankers and freight carriers (for ISO containers) for the transportation of LNG and ship-to-ship kits to transfer LNG between ships. We may not be able to successfully enter into contracts or renew existing contracts to charter tankers on favorable terms or at all, which may result in us not being able to meet our obligations. Our ability to enter into contracts or renew existing contracts will depend on prevailing market conditions upon expiration of the contracts governing the leasing or charter of the applicable assets. Therefore, we may be exposed to increased volatility in terms of charter rates and contract provisions. Fluctuations in rates result from changes in the supply of and demand for capacity and changes in the demand for seaborne carriage of commodities. Because the factors affecting the supply and demand are outside of our control and are highly unpredictable, the nature, timing, direction and degree of changes in industry conditions are also unpredictable. Likewise, our counterparties may seek to terminate or renegotiate their charters or leases with us. If we are not able to renew or obtain new charters or leases in direct continuation, or if new charters or leases are entered into at rates substantially above the existing rates or on terms otherwise less favorable compared to existing contractual terms, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Furthermore, our ability to provide services to our customers could be adversely impacted by shifts in tanker market dynamics, shortages in available cargo carrying capacity, changes in policies and practices such as scheduling, pricing, routes of service and frequency of service, or increases in the cost of fuel, taxes and labor, emissions standards, maritime regulatory changes and other factors not within our control. The availability of the tankers could be delayed to the detriment of our LNG business and our customers because the construction and delivery of LNG tankers require significant capital and long construction lead times. Changes in ocean freight capacity, which are outside our control, could negatively impact our ability to provide natural gas if LNG shipping capacity is adversely impacted and LNG transportation costs increase because we may bear the risk of such increases and may not be able to pass these increases on to our customers.

The operation of ocean-going tankers and kits carries inherent risks. These risks include the possibility of natural disasters; mechanical failures; grounding, fire, explosions and collisions; piracy; human error; epidemics; and war and terrorism. We do not currently maintain a redundant supply of ships, ship-to-ship kits or other equipment. As a result, if our current equipment fails, is unavailable or insufficient to service our LNG purchases, production, or delivery commitments we may need to procure new equipment, which may not be readily available or be expensive to obtain. Any such occurrence could delay the start of operations of facilities we intend to commission, interrupt our existing operations and increase our operating costs. Any of these results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Hire rates for FSRUs and LNG carriers may fluctuate substantially. If rates are lower when we are seeking a new charter, our earnings may decline.

Hire rates for FSRUs and LNG carriers fluctuate over time as a result of changes in the supply-demand balance relating to current and future FSRU and LNG carrier capacity. This supply-demand relationship largely depends on a number of factors outside of our control. For example, driven in part by an increase in LNG production capacity, the market supply particularly of LNG carriers has been increasing. As of February 1, 2022, the LNG carrier order book totaled 153 vessels. We believe that this and any future expansion of the global LNG carrier fleet may have a negative impact on charter hire rates, vessel utilization and vessel values, the impact of which could be amplified if the expansion of LNG production capacity does not keep pace with fleet growth. The LNG market is also closely connected to world natural gas prices and energy markets, which it cannot predict. A substantial or extended decline in demand for natural gas or LNG, including as a result of the spread of COVID-19, could adversely affect our ability to charter or re-charter our vessels at acceptable rates or to acquire and profitably operate new vessels. Accordingly, this could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, financial condition, operating results and prospects.

Vessel values may fluctuate substantially and, if these values are lower at a time when we are attempting to dispose of vessels, we may incur a loss.

Vessel values can fluctuate substantially over time due to a number of different factors, including:

As our vessels age, the expenses associated with maintaining and operating them are expected to increase, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operations if we do not maintain sufficient cash reserves for maintenance and replacement capital expenditures. Moreover, the cost of a replacement vessel would be significant.

During the period a vessel is subject to a charter, we will not be permitted to sell it to take advantage of increases in vessel values without the charterers’ consent. If a charter terminates, we may be unable to re-deploy the affected vessels at attractive rates or for our operations and, rather than continue to incur costs to maintain and finance them, we may seek to dispose of them. When vessel values are low, we may not be able to dispose of vessels at a reasonable price when we wish to sell vessels, and conversely, when vessel values are elevated, we may not be able to acquire additional vessels at attractive prices when we wish to acquire additional vessels, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flow, and financial condition.

The carrying values of our vessels may not represent their fair market value at any point in time because the market prices of secondhand vessels tend to fluctuate with changes in charter rates and the cost of new build vessels. Our vessels are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Although we did not recognize an impairment charge on any of its vessels for the year ended December 31, 2021, we cannot assure you that we will not recognize impairment losses on our vessels in future years. Any impairment charges incurred as a result of declines in charter rates could negatively affect our business, financial condition, or operating results.

Maritime claimants could arrest our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flow.

If we are in default on certain kinds of obligations related to our vessels, such as those to our lenders, crew members, suppliers of goods and services to our vessels or shippers of cargo, these parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against one or more of our vessels. In many jurisdictions, a maritime lien holder may enforce its lien by arresting a vessel through foreclosure proceedings. In a few jurisdictions, claimants could try to assert “sister ship” liability against one vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another of our vessels. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels could interrupt our cash flow and require us to pay to have the arrest lifted. Under some of our present charters, if the vessel is arrested or detained (for as few as 14 days in the case of one of our charters) as a result of a claim against us, we may be in default of our charter and the charterer may terminate the charter. This would negatively impact our revenues and cash flows.

We seek to develop innovative and new technologies as part of our strategy that are not yet proven and may not realize the time and cost savings we expect to achieve.

We analyze and seek to implement innovative and new technologies that complement our businesses to reduce our costs, achieve efficiencies for our business and our customers and advance our long-term goals, such as our ISO container distribution system, our Fast LNG solution and our green hydrogen project.  The success of our current operations and future projects will depend in part on our ability to create and maintain a competitive position in the natural gas liquefaction industry. We have developed our Fast LNG strategy to procure and deliver LNG to our customers more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional LNG procurement and delivery strategies used by other market participants.  See “—Our Fast LNG technology is a novel technology that is not yet proven and we may not be able to implement it as planned or at all.” We are also making investments to develop green hydrogen energy technologies as part of our long-term goal to become one of the world’s leading providers of carbon-free energy.  In October 2020, we announced our intention to partner with Long Ridge Energy Terminal and GE Gas Power to transition a power plant to be capable of burning 100% green hydrogen over the next decade, and we made our first hydrogen-related investment in H2Pro, an Israel-based company developing a novel, efficient, and low-cost green hydrogen production technology. We continue to develop our ISO container distribution systems in the various markets where we operate. We expect to make additional investments in this field in the future. Because these technologies are innovative, we may be making investments in unproven business strategies and technologies with which we have limited or no prior development or operating experience. As an investor in these technologies, it is also possible that we could be exposed to claims and liabilities, expenses, regulatory challenges and other risks. We may not be able to successfully develop these technologies, and even if we succeed, we may ultimately not be able to realize the time, revenues and cost savings we currently expect to achieve from these strategies, which could adversely affect our financial results.

Technological innovation may impair the economic attractiveness of our projects.

The success of our current operations and future projects will depend in part on our ability to create and maintain a competitive position in the natural gas liquefaction industry. In particular, although we plan to build out our delivery logistics chain in Northern Pennsylvania using proven technologies such as those currently in operation at our Miami Facility, we do not have any exclusive rights to any of these technologies. In addition, such technologies may be rendered obsolete or uneconomical by legal or regulatory requirements, technological advances, more efficient and cost-effective processes or entirely different approaches developed by one or more of our competitors or others, which could materially and adversely affect our business, ability to realize benefits from future projects, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and prospects.

Our Fast LNG technology is a novel technology that is not yet proven and we may not be able to implement it as planned or at all.

We have developed our Fast LNG strategy to procure and deliver LNG to our customers more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional LNG procurement and delivery strategies used by other market participants.  Our ability to create and maintain a competitive position in the natural gas liquefaction industry may be adversely affected by our inability to effectively implement our Fast LNG technology. We are in the process of designing and constructing our first Fast LNG solution, and are therefore subject to construction risks, risks associated with third-party contracting and service providers, permitting and regulatory risks.   See “—We are subject to various construction risks” and “—We depend on third-party contractors, operators and suppliers”.  Because our Fast LNG technology is a new technology that has not been previously implemented, tested or proven, we are also exposed to unknown and unforeseen risks associated with the development of new technologies, including failure to meet design and engineering specifications, incompatibility of systems, inability to contract or employ third parties with sufficient experience in technologies used or inability by contractors to perform their work, delays and schedule changes, high costs and expenses that may be subject to increase or difficult to anticipate, regulatory and legal challenges, instability or clarity of application of laws, rules and regulations to the technology, and added difficulties in obtaining or securing required permits or authorizations, among others. See “—Failure to obtain and maintain permits, approvals and authorizations from governmental and regulatory agencies and third parties on favorable terms could impede operations and construction”. The success and profitability of our Fast LNG technology is also dependent on the volatility of the price of natural gas and LNG compared to the related levels of capital spending required to implement the technology. Natural gas and LNG prices have at various times been and may become volatile due to one or more of factors. Volatility or weakness in natural gas or LNG prices could render our LNG procured through Fast LNG too expensive for our customers, and we may not be able to obtain our anticipated return on our investment or make our technology profitable. In addition, we may seek to construct and develop floating offshore liquefaction units as part of our Fast LNG in jurisdictions with increased political, economic, social and legal instability, lack of regulatory clarity of application of laws, rules and regulations to our technology, and could potentially expose us to additional jurisdictional risks related to currency exchange, tariffs and other taxes, changes in laws, civil unrest, and similar risks. See “—Risks Related to the Jurisdictions in which we Operate—We are subject to the economic, political, social and other conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate”. Furthermore, as part of our business strategy for Fast LNG, we may enter into tolling agreements with third parties, including in developing countries, and these counterparties may have greater credit risk than typical. Therefore, we may be exposed to greater customer credit risk than other companies in the industry. Our credit procedures and policies may be inadequate to sufficiently eliminate risks of nonpayment and nonperformance. We may not be able to successfully develop, construct and implement our Fast LNG solution, and even if we succeed in developing and constructing the technology, we may ultimately not be able to realize the cost savings and revenues we currently expect to achieve from it, which could result in a material adverse effect upon our operations and business.

We have incurred, and may in the future incur, a significant amount of debt.

On an ongoing basis, we engage with lenders and other financial institutions in an effort to improve our liquidity and capital resources. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $3,896 million aggregate principal amount of indebtedness outstanding on a consolidated basis. In connection with the Mergers, we assumed a significant amount of indebtedness, including guarantees and preferred shares, and we incurred a significant amount of debt to pay a portion of the purchase price for the GMLP Merger, to refinance certain debt of GMLP and its subsidiaries, to pay related fees and expenses, and for general corporate purposes. The terms and conditions of our indebtedness, including some of the indebtedness we assumed as part of the Mergers, include restrictive covenants that may limit our ability to operate our business, to incur or refinance our debt, engage in certain transactions, and require us to maintain certain financial ratios, among others, any of which may limit our ability to finance future operations and capital needs, react to changes in our business and in the economy generally, and to pursue business opportunities and activities.  If we fail to comply with any of these restrictions or are unable to pay our debt service when due, our debt could be accelerated or cross-accelerated, and we cannot assure you that we will have the ability to repay such accelerated debt. Any such default could also have adverse consequences to our status and reporting requirements, reducing our ability to quickly access the capital markets. Our ability to service our existing and any future debt will depend on our performance and operations, which is subject to factors that are beyond our control and compliance with covenants in the agreements governing such debt. We may incur additional debt to fund our business and strategic initiatives.  If we incur additional debt and other obligations, the risks associated with our substantial leverage and the ability to service such debt would increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

Our business is dependent upon obtaining substantial additional funding from various sources, which may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms.

We believe we will have sufficient liquidity, cash flow from operations and access to additional capital sources to fund our capital expenditures and working capital needs for the next 12 months. In the future, we expect to incur additional indebtedness to assist us in developing our operations and we are considering alternative financing options, including in specific markets or the opportunistic sale of one of our non-core assets. We also historically have relied, and in the future will likely rely, on borrowings under term loans and other debt instruments to fund our capital expenditures. If any of the lenders in the syndicates backing these debt instruments were unable to perform on its commitments, we may need to seek replacement financing.  We cannot assure you that such additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Our ability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms will depend on financial, economic and market conditions, which have increased in volatility and at times have been negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our progress in executing our business strategy and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, including domestic or international economic conditions, increases in key benchmark interest rates and/or credit spreads, the adoption of new or amended banking or capital market laws or regulations, the re-pricing of market risks and volatility in capital and financial markets, risks relating to the credit risk of our customers and the jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as general risks applicable to the energy sector.  Additional debt financing, if available, may subject us to increased restrictive covenants that could limit our flexibility in conducting future business activities and could result in us expending significant resources to service our obligations. Additionally, we may need to adjust the timing of our planned capital expenditures and facilities development depending on the requirements of our existing financing and availability of such additional funding. If we are unable to obtain additional funding, approvals or amendments to our financings outstanding from time to time, or if additional funding is only available on terms that we determine are not acceptable to us, we may be unable to fully execute our business plan, we may be unable to pay or refinance our indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs, and our financial condition or results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our current and any future sale and leaseback agreements contain or may contain restrictive covenants that may limit our liquidity and corporate activities.

Hygo’s sale and leaseback agreements for the Nanook, Penguin and Celsius contain, and any future sale and leaseback agreements we may enter into are expected to contain, customary covenants and event of default clauses, including specified financial ratios and financial covenants, including minimum consolidated leverage ratio and the minimum free liquidity covenants, as well as cross-default provisions and restrictive covenants and performance requirements that may affect our operational and financial flexibility. Such restrictions could affect, and in many respects limit or prohibit, among other things, Hygo’s or our ability to incur additional indebtedness, create liens, sell assets, or engage in mergers or acquisitions, as well as our ability to plan for or react to market conditions or meet extraordinary capital needs or otherwise restrict corporate activities. A failure by Hygo to meet payment and other obligations, including the financial covenant requirements, could lead to defaults under other sale and leaseback agreements or any future sale and leaseback agreements. If we are not in compliance with our covenants and are not able to obtain covenant waivers or modifications, the current or future owners of our leased vessels, as appropriate, could retake possession of the vessels or require us to pay down our indebtedness or sell vessels in our fleet. We could lose our vessels if we default on our bareboat charters in connection with the sale and leaseback agreements, which would negatively affect our revenues, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, Hygo also assigns the shares in its subsidiaries which are the charterers of these vessels to the owners/lessors. There can be no assurance that such restrictions will not adversely affect our ability to finance future operations or capital needs. As a result of these restrictions in current sale and leaseback agreements, or similar restrictions in future sale and leaseback agreements, we may need to seek permission from the owners of our leased vessels to engage in certain corporate actions. Their interests may be different from ours and we may not be able to obtain their permission when needed. This may prevent us from taking actions that we believe are in our best interest, which may adversely impact our revenues, results of operations and financial condition.

We have entered into, and may in the future enter into or modify existing, joint ventures that might restrict our operational and corporate flexibility or require credit support.

We have entered into, and may in the future enter, into joint venture arrangements with third parties in respect of our projects and assets. For example, the Sergipe Facility and Sergipe Power Plant are part of a 50/50 joint venture between Hygo and Ebrasil and our interest in the Hilli is the result of an acquisition by GMLP in July 2018 of 50% of the common units in Hilli LLC (the “Hilli Acquisition”), the disponent owner of Hilli Corp. (as defined herein), the owner of the Hilli, which represents the equivalent of 50% of the two liquefaction trains, out of a total of four, that have been contracted to Perenco Cameroon SA (“Perenco”) and Société Nationale Des Hydrocarbures (“SNH” and, together with Perenco, the “Customer”) pursuant to a Liquefaction Tolling Agreement (“LTA”) with an 8-year term. As we do not operate the assets owned by these joint ventures, our control over their operations is limited by provisions of the agreements we have entered into with our joint venture partners and by our percentage ownership in such joint ventures. Because we do not control all of the decisions of our joint ventures, it may be difficult or impossible for us to cause the joint venture to take actions that we believe would be in its or the joint venture’s best interests. For example, we cannot unilaterally cause the distribution of cash by our joint ventures. Additionally, as the joint ventures are separate legal entities, any right we may have to receive assets of any joint venture or other payments upon their liquidation or reorganization will be effectively subordinated to the claims of the creditors of that joint venture (including tax authorities, trade creditors and any other third parties that require such subordination, such as lenders and other creditors).

Moreover, joint venture arrangements involve various risks and uncertainties, such as our commitment to fund operating and/or capital expenditures, the timing and amount of which we may not control, and our joint venture partners may not satisfy their financial obligations to the joint venture. We have provided and may in the future provide guarantees or other forms of credit support to our joint ventures and/or affiliates. For example, in connection with the closing of the Hilli Acquisition, GMLP agreed to provide a several guarantee (the “GMLP Guarantee”) of 50% of the obligations of Hilli Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilli LLC, under a Memorandum of Agreement, dated September 9, 2015, with Fortune Lianjiang Shipping S.A., a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (“Fortune”), pursuant to which Hilli Corp has sold to and leased back from Fortune the Hilli under a 10-year bareboat charter agreement (the “Hilli Facility”), pursuant to a Deed of Amendment, Restatement and Accession relating to a guarantee between GLNG, Fortune and GMLP dated July 12, 2018. The Hilli Facility provided for post-construction financing for the Hilli in the amount of $960 million.  These guarantees or credit support contain and can contain certain financial restrictions and other covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities. We backstop the GMLP guarantee of Hilli Corp’s debt under the Hiili Leaseback by separately guaranteeing GMLP’s performance. Failure by any of our joint ventures (e.g., Hilli Corp), equity method investees and/or affiliate to service their debt requirements and comply with any provisions contained in their commercial loan agreements, including paying scheduled installments and complying with certain covenants, may lead to an event of default under the related loan agreement. As a result, if our joint ventures, equity method investees and/or affiliates are unable to obtain a waiver or do not have enough cash on hand to repay the outstanding borrowings, the relevant lenders may foreclose their liens on the relevant assets or vessels securing the loans or seek repayment of the loan from us, or both. Either of these possibilities could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, by virtue of our guarantees with respect to our joint ventures and/or affiliates, this may reduce our ability to gain future credit from certain lenders.

Any use of hedging arrangements may adversely affect our future operating results or liquidity.

To reduce our exposure to fluctuations in the price, volume and timing risk associated with the purchase of natural gas, we have entered and may in the future enter into futures, swaps and option contracts traded or cleared on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange or over-the-counter (“OTC”) options and swaps with other natural gas merchants and financial institutions. Hedging arrangements would expose us to risk of financial loss in some circumstances, including when expected supply is less than the amount hedged, the counterparty to the hedging contract defaults on its contractual obligations, or there is a change in the expected differential between the underlying price in the hedging agreement and actual prices received. The use of derivatives also may require the posting of cash collateral with counterparties, which can impact working capital when commodity prices change.

The swaps regulatory and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules adopted thereunder and other regulations, including EMIR and REMIT, could adversely affect our ability to hedge risks associated with our business and our operating results and cash flows.

We have entered and may in the future enter into futures, swaps and option contracts traded or cleared on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange or over-the-counter (“OTC”) options and swaps with other natural gas merchants and financial institutions. Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act established federal regulation of the OTC derivatives market and made other amendments to the Commodity Exchange Act that are relevant to our business. The provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules adopted thereunder by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”), the SEC and other federal regulators may adversely affect the cost and availability of the swaps that we may use for hedging, including, without limitation, rules setting limits on the positions in certain contracts, rules regarding aggregation of positions, requirements to clear through specific derivatives clearing organizations and trading platforms, requirements for posting of margins, regulatory requirements on swaps market participants. Our counterparties that are also subject to the capital requirements set out by the Basel Committee on the Banking Supervision in 2011, commonly referred to as “Basel III,” may increase the cost to us of entering into swaps with them or, although not required to collect margin from us under the margin rules, require us to post collateral with them in connection with such swaps in order to offset their increased capital costs or to reduce their capital costs to maintain those swaps on their balance sheets. Our subsidiaries and affiliates operating in Europe and the Caribbean may be subject to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”) and the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (“REMIT”) as wholesale energy market participants, which may impose increased regulatory obligations, including a prohibition to use or disclose insider information or to engage in market manipulation in wholesale energy markets, and an obligation to report certain data, as well as requiring liquid collateral. These regulations could significantly increase the cost of derivative contracts (including through requirements to post margin or collateral), materially alter the terms of derivative contracts, reduce the availability of derivatives to protect against certain risks that we encounter, and reduce our ability to monetize or restructure derivative contracts and to execute our hedging strategies. If, as a result of the swaps regulatory regime discussed above, we were to forgo the use of swaps to hedge our risks, such as commodity price risks that we encounter in our operations, our operating results and cash flows may become more volatile and could be otherwise adversely affected.

We may incur impairments to long-lived assets.

We test our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of these assets may not be recoverable. Significant negative industry or economic trends, and decline of our market capitalization, reduced estimates of future cash flows for our business segments or disruptions to our business could lead to an impairment charge of our long-lived assets. Our valuation methodology for assessing impairment requires management to make judgments and assumptions based on historical experience and to rely heavily on projections of future operating performance. Projections of future operating results and cash flows may vary significantly from results. In addition, if our analysis results in an impairment to our long-lived assets, we may be required to record a charge to earnings in our consolidated financial statements during a period in which such impairment is determined to exist, which may negatively impact our operating results.

Weather events or other natural or manmade disasters or phenomena, some of which may be adversely impacted by global climate change, could have a material adverse effect on our operations and projects, as well as on the economies in the markets in which we operate or plan to operate.

Weather events such as storms and related storm activity and collateral effects, or other disasters, accidents, catastrophes or similar events, natural or manmade, such as explosions, fires, seismic events, floods or accidents, could result in damage to our Facilities, Liquefaction Facilities, or related infrastructure, interruption of our operations or our supply chain, as well as delays or cost increases in the construction and the development of our proposed facilities or other infrastructure. Changes in the global climate may have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and rising sea levels; if any such effects were to occur, they could have an adverse effect on our marine and coastal operations. Due to the nature of our operations, we are particularly exposed to the risks posed by hurricanes, tropical storms and their collateral effects, in particular with respect to fleet operations, floating offshore liquefaction units and other infrastructure we may develop in connection with our Fast LNG technology. In particular, we may seek to construct and develop floating offshore liquefaction units as part of our Fast LNG in locations that are subject to risks posed by hurricanes and similar severe weather conditions or natural disasters or other adverse events or conditions that could severely affect our infrastructure, resulting in damage or loss, contamination to the areas, and suspension of our operations.  For example, our our operations in coastal regions in southern Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America are frequently exposed to natural hazards such as sea-level rise, coastal flooding, cyclones, extreme heat, hurricanes, and earthquakes. These climate risks can affect our operations, potentially even damaging or destroying our facilities, leading to production downgrades, costly delays, reduction in workforce productivity, and potential injury to our people. In addition, jurisdictions with increased political, economic, social and legal instability, lack of regulatory clarity of application of laws, rules and regulations to our technology, and could potentially expose us to additional jurisdictional risks related to currency exchange, tariffs and other taxes, changes in laws, civil unrest, and similar risks. In addition, because of the location of some of our operations, we are subject to other natural phenomena, including earthquakes, such as the one that occurred near Puerto Rico in January 2020, which resulted in a temporary delay of development of our Puerto Rico projects. If one or more tankers, pipelines, Facilities, Liquefaction Facilities, vessels, equipment or electronic systems that we own, lease or operate or that deliver products to us or that supply our Facilities, Liquefaction Facilities, and customers’ facilities are damaged by severe weather or any other disaster, accident, catastrophe or similar event, our construction projects and our operations could be significantly interrupted, damaged or destroyed. These delays, interruptions and damages could involve substantial damage to people, property or the environment, and repairs could take a significant amount of time, particularly in the event of a major interruption or substantial damage. We do not, nor do we intend to, maintain insurance against all of these risks and losses. We may not be able to maintain desired or required insurance in the future at rates that we consider reasonable. See “—Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations”. The occurrence of a significant event, or the threat thereof, could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.

Existing and future environmental, social, health and safety laws and regulations could result in increased or more stringent compliance requirements, which may be difficult to comply with or result in additional costs and may otherwise lead to significant liabilities and reputational damage.

Our business is now and will in the future be subject to extensive national, federal, state, municipal and local laws, rules and regulations, in the United States and in the jurisdictions where we operate, relating to the environment, social, health and safety and hazardous substances. These requirements regulate and restrict, among other things: the siting and design of our facilities; discharges to air, land and water, with particular respect to the protection of human health, the environment and natural resources and safety from risks associated with storing, receiving and transporting LNG, natural gas and other substances; the handling, storage and disposal of hazardous materials, hazardous waste and petroleum products; and remediation associated with the release of hazardous substances. Many of these laws and regulations, such as the CAA and the CWA, and analogous laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, restrict or prohibit the types, quantities and concentrations of substances that can be emitted into the environment in connection with the construction and operation of our facilities and vessels, and require us to obtain and maintain permits and provide governmental authorities with access to our facilities and vessels for inspection and reports related to our compliance. For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection laws and regulations will apply to the construction and operation of the Pennsylvania Facility. Changes or new environmental, social, health and safety laws and regulations could cause additional expenditures, restrictions and delays in our business and operations, the extent of which cannot be predicted and which may require us to limit substantially, delay or cease operations in some circumstances. For example, in October 2017, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a legal determination that a 2013 interagency guidance document was a “rule” subject to the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”). This legal determination could open a broader set of agency guidance documents to potential disapproval and invalidation under the CRA, potentially increasing the likelihood that laws and regulations applicable to our business will become subject to revised interpretations in the future that we cannot predict. Revised, reinterpreted or additional laws and regulations that result in increased compliance costs or additional operating or construction costs and restrictions could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.

Any failure in environmental, social, health and safety performance from our operations may result in an event that causes personal harm or injury to our employees, other persons, and/or the environment, as well as the imposition of injunctive relief and/or penalties or fines for non-compliance with relevant regulatory requirements or litigation.  Such a failure, or a similar failure elsewhere in the energy industry (including, in particular, LNG liquefaction, storage, transportation or regasification operations), could generate public concern, which may lead to new laws and/or regulations that would impose more stringent requirements on our operations, have a corresponding impact on our ability to obtain permits and approvals, and otherwise jeopardize our reputation or the reputation of our industry as well as our relationships with relevant regulatory agencies and local communities. As the owner and operator of our facilities and vessels, we may be liable, without regard to fault or the lawfulness of the original conduct, for the release of certain types or quantities of hazardous substances into the environment at or from our facilities and for any resulting damage to natural resources, which could result in substantial liabilities, fines and penalties, capital expenditures related to cleanup efforts and pollution control equipment, and restrictions or curtailment of our operations. Any such liabilities, fines and penalties that exceed the limits of our insurance coverage. See “—Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations”. Individually or collectively, these developments could adversely impact our ability to expand our business, including into new markets.

Greenhouse Gases/Climate Change. The threat of climate change continues to attract considerable attention in the United States and around the world. Numerous proposals have been made and could continue to be made at the international, national, regional and state government levels to monitor and limit existing and future GHG emissions. As a result, our operations are subject to a series of risks associated with the processing, transportation, and use of fossil fuels and emission of GHGs. In the United States to date, no comprehensive climate change legislation has been implemented at the federal level, although various individual states and state coalitions have adopted or considered adopting legislation, regulations or other regulatory initiatives, including GHG cap and trade programs, carbon taxes, reporting and tracking programs, and emission restrictions, pollution reduction incentives, or renewable energy or low-carbon replacement fuel quotas. At the international level, the United Nations-sponsored “Paris Agreement” was signed by 197 countries who agreed to limit their GHG emissions through non-binding, individually-determined reduction goals every five years after 2020. The United States rejoined the Paris Agreement, effective February 19, 2021, and other countries where we operate or plan to operate, including Jamaica, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, and Nicaragua, have signed or acceded to this agreement. However, the scope of future climate and GHG emissions-focused regulatory requirements, if any, remain uncertain. Governmental, scientific, and public concern over the threat of climate change arising from GHG emissions has resulted in increasing political uncertainty in the United States and worldwide. For example, based in part on the publicized climate plan and pledges by President Biden, there may be significant legislation, rulemaking, or executive orders that seek to address climate change, incentivize low-carbon infrastructure or initiatives, or ban or restrict the exploration and production of fossil fuels. For example, executive orders may be issued or federal legislation or regulatory initiatives may be adopted to achieve U.S. goals under the Paris Agreement.

Climate-related litigation and permitting risks are also increasing, as a number of cities, local governments and private organizations have sought to either bring suit against oil and natural gas companies in state or federal court, alleging various public nuisance claims, or seek to challenge permits required for infrastructure development. Fossil fuel producers are also facing general risks of shifting capital availability due to stockholder concern over climate change and potentially stranded assets in the event of future, comprehensive climate and GHG-related regulation. While several of these cases have been dismissed, there is no guarantee how future lawsuits might be resolved.

The adoption and implementation of new or more comprehensive international, federal or state legislation, regulations or other regulatory initiatives that impose more stringent restrictions on GHG emissions could result in increased compliance costs, and thereby reduce demand for or erode value for, the natural gas that we process and market. The potential increase in our operating costs could include new costs to operate and maintain our facilities, install new emission controls on our facilities, acquire allowances to authorize our GHG emissions, pay taxes related to our GHG emissions, and administer and manage a GHG emissions program. We may not be able to recover such increased costs through increases in customer prices or rates. In addition, changes in regulatory policies that result in a reduction in the demand for hydrocarbon products that are deemed to contribute to GHGs, or restrict their use, may reduce volumes available to us for processing, transportation, marketing and storage. Furthermore, political, litigation, and financial risks may result in reduced natural gas production activities, increased liability for infrastructure damages as a result of climatic changes, or an impaired ability to continue to operate in an economic manner. One or more of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

Fossil Fuels. Our business activities depend upon a sufficient and reliable supply of natural gas feedstock, and are therefore subject to concerns in certain sectors of the public about the exploration, production and transportation of natural gas and other fossil fuels and the consumption of fossil fuels more generally. For example, PHMSA has promulgated detailed regulations governing LNG facilities under its jurisdiction to address siting, design, construction, equipment, operations, maintenance, personnel qualifications and training, fire protection and security. While the Miami Facility is subject to these regulations, none of our LNG facilities currently under development are subject to PHMSA’s jurisdiction, but regulators and governmental agencies in the jurisdictions in which we operate can impose similar siting, design, construction and operational requirements that can affect our projects, facilities, infrastructure and operations. Legislative and regulatory action, and possible litigation, in response to such public concerns may also adversely affect our operations. We may be subject to future laws, regulations, or actions to address such public concern with fossil fuel generation, distribution and combustion, greenhouse gases and the effects of global climate change. Our customers may also move away from using fossil fuels such as LNG for their power generation needs for reputational or perceived risk-related reasons. These matters represent uncertainties in the operation and management of our business, and could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Hydraulic Fracturing. Certain of our suppliers of natural gas and LNG employ hydraulic fracturing techniques to stimulate natural gas production from unconventional geological formations (including shale formations), which currently entails the injection of pressurized fracturing fluids (consisting of water, sand and certain chemicals) into a well bore. Moreover, hydraulically fractured natural gas wells account for a significant percentage of the natural gas production in the U.S.; the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in 2016 that hydraulically fractured wells provided two-thirds of U.S. marketed gas production in 2015. Hydraulic fracturing activities can be regulated at the national, federal or local levels, with governmental agencies asserting authority over certain hydraulic fracturing activities and equipment used in the production, transmission and distribution of oil and natural gas, including such oil and natural gas produced via hydraulic fracturing. Such authorities may seek to further regulate or even ban such activities. For example, the Delaware River Basin Commission (“DRBC”), a regional body created via interstate compact responsible for, among other things, water quality protection, water supply allocation, regulatory review, water conservation initiatives, and watershed planning in the Delaware River Basin, has implemented a de facto ban on hydraulic fracturing activities in that basin since 2010 pending the approval of new regulations governing natural gas production activity in the basin. More recently, the DRBC has stated that it will consider new regulations that would ban natural gas production activity, including hydraulic fracturing, in the basin. If additional levels of regulation or permitting requirements were imposed on hydraulic fracturing operations, natural gas prices in North America could rise, which in turn could materially adversely affect the relative pricing advantage that has existed in recent years in favor of domestic natural gas prices (based on Henry Hub pricing).

The requirements for permits or authorizations to conduct these activities vary depending on the location where such drilling and completion activities will be conducted. Several jurisdictions have adopted or considered adopting regulations to impose more stringent permitting, public disclosure or well construction requirements on hydraulic fracturing operations, or to ban hydraulic fracturing altogether. As with most permitting and authorization processes, there is a degree of uncertainty as to whether a permit will be granted, the time it will take for a permit or approval to be issued and any conditions which may be imposed in connection with the granting of the permit. See “—Failure to obtain and maintain permits, approvals and authorizations from governmental and regulatory agencies and third parties on favorable terms could impede operations and construction”. Certain regulatory authorities have delayed or suspended the issuance of permits or authorizations while the potential environmental impacts associated with issuing such permits can be studied and appropriate mitigation measures evaluated. In addition, some local jurisdictions have adopted or considered adopting land use restrictions, such as city or municipal ordinances, that may restrict the performance of or prohibit the well drilling in general and/or hydraulic fracturing in particular. Increased regulation or difficulty in permitting of hydraulic fracturing, and any corresponding increase in domestic natural gas prices, could materially adversely affect demand for LNG and our ability to develop commercially viable LNG facilities.

Indigenous Communities. Indigenous communities—including, in Brazil, Afro-indigenous (“Quilombola”) communities—are subject to certain protections under international and national laws. Brazil has ratified the International Labor Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (“ILO Convention 169”), which states that governments are to ensure that members of tribes directly affected by legislative or administrative measures, including the grant of government authorizations, such as are required for our Brazilian operations, are consulted through appropriate procedures and through their representative institutions, particularly using the principle of consultation and participation of indigenous and traditional communities under the basis of free, prior, and informed consent (“FPIC”). Brazilian law does not specifically regulate the FPIC process for indigenous and traditional people affected by undertakings, nor does it set forth that individual members of an affected community shall render their FPIC on an undertaking that may impact them. However, in order to obtain certain environmental licenses for our operations, we are required to comply with the requirements of, consult with, and obtain certain authorizations from a number of institutions regarding the protection of indigenous interests: the National Congress (in specific cases), the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Indian Foundation (Fundação Nacional do Índio or FUNAI) (for indigenous people) or Palmares Cultural Foundation (Fundação Cultural Palmares) (for Quilombola communities).

Additionally, the American Convention on Human Rights (“ACHR”), to which Brazil is a party, sets forth rights and freedoms prescribed for all persons, including property rights without discrimination due to race, language, and national or social origin. The ACHR also provides for consultation with indigenous communities regarding activities that may affect the integrity of their land and natural resources. If Brazil’s legal process for consultation and the protection of indigenous rights is challenged under the ACHR and found to be inadequate, it could result in orders or judgments that could ultimately adversely impact its operations. For example, in February 2020, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights (“IACtHR”) found that Argentina had not taken adequate steps, in law or action, to ensure the consulting of indigenous communities and obtaining those communities’ free prior and informed consent for a project impacting their territories. IACtHR further found that Argentina had thus violated the ACHR due to infringements on the indigenous communities’ rights to property, cultural identity, a healthy environment, and adequate food and water by failing to take effective measures to stop harmful, third-party activities on the indigenous communities’ traditional land. As a result, IACtHR ordered Argentina, among other things, to achieve the demarcation and grant of title to the indigenous communities over their territory and the removal of the third-parties from the indigenous territory. We cannot predict whether this decision will result in challenges regarding the adequacy of existing Brazilian legal requirements related to the protection of indigenous rights, changes to the existing Brazilian government body consultation process, or impact our existing development agreements or negotiations for outstanding development agreements with indigenous communities in the areas in which we operate.

There are several indigenous communities that surround our operations in Brazil. Hygo has entered into agreements with some of these communities that mainly provide for the use of their land for our operations, and negotiations with other such communities are ongoing. If we are not able to timely obtain the necessary authorizations or obtain them on favorable terms for our operations in areas where indigenous communities reside, our relationship with these communities deteriorates in future, or that such communities do not comply with any existing agreements related to our operations, we could face construction delays, increased costs, or otherwise experience adverse impacts on its business and results of operations.

International Waters. Our chartered vessels’ operations in international waters and in the territorial waters of other countries are regulated by extensive and changing international, national and local environmental protection laws, regulations, treaties and conventions in force in international waters, the jurisdictional waters of the countries in which our vessels operate, as well as the countries of our vessels’ registration, including those governing oil spills, discharges to air and water, the handling and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the management of ballast water. The International Maritime Organization (“IMO”) International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships of 1973, as amended from time to time, and generally referred to as “MARPOL,” can affect operations of our chartered vessels. In addition, our chartered LNG vessels may become subject to the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea (the “HNS Convention”), adopted in 1996 and subsequently amended by a Protocol to the HNS Convention in April 2010. Other regulations include, but are not limited to, the designation of Emission Control Areas under MARPOL, the IMO International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage of 1969, as amended from time to time, the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, the IMO International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1974, as amended from time to time, the International Safety Management Code for the Safe Operations of Ships and for Pollution Prevention, the IMO International Convention on Load Lines of 1966, as amended from time to time and the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments in February 2004.

Moreover, the overall trends are towards more regulations and more stringent requirements which are likely to add to our costs of doing business. For example, IMO regulations, which became applicable on January 1, 2020, limit the sulfur content of fuel oil for ships to 0.5 weight percent starting January 1, 2020, thus increasing the cost of fuel and increasing expenses for us. Likewise, the European Union is considering extending its emissions trading scheme to maritime transport to reduce GHG emissions from vessels. We contract with industry leading vessel providers in the LNG market and look for them to take the lead in maintaining compliance with all such requirements, although the terms of our charter agreements may call for us to bear some or all of the associated costs. While we believe we are similarly situated with respect to other companies that charter vessels, we cannot assure you that these requirements will not have a material effect on our business.

Our chartered vessels operating in U.S. waters, now or in the future, will also be subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to protection of the environment, including the OPA, the CERCLA, the CWA and the CAA. In some cases, these laws and regulations require governmental permits and authorizations before conducting certain activities. These environmental laws and regulations may impose substantial penalties for noncompliance and substantial liabilities for pollution. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties. As with the industry generally, our chartered vessels’ operations will entail risks in these areas, and compliance with these laws and regulations, which may be subject to frequent revisions and reinterpretation, may increase our overall cost of business.

We are subject to numerous governmental export laws, and trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations, and anti-corruption laws and regulation.

We conduct business throughout the world, and our business activities and services are subject to various applicable import and export control laws and regulations of the United States and other countries, particularly countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the other countries in which we seek to do business. We must also comply with trade and economic sanctions laws, including the U.S. Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations and economic and trade sanctions regulations maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. For example, in 2018, U.S. legislation was approved to restrict U.S. aid to Nicaragua and in 2018, 2019 and 2020, U.S. and European governmental authorities imposed a number of sanctions against entities and individuals in or associated with the government of Nicaragua and Venezuela. Although we take precautions to comply with all such laws and regulations, violations of governmental export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations could result in negative consequences to us, including government investigations, sanctions, criminal or civil fines or penalties, more onerous compliance requirements, loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business, reputational harm and other adverse consequences. Moreover, it is possible that we could invest both time and capital into a project involving a counterparty who may become subject to sanctions. If any of our counterparties becomes subject to sanctions as a result of these laws and regulations, changes thereto or otherwise, we may face an array of issues, including, but not limited to, (i) having to suspend our development or operations on a temporary or permanent basis, (ii) being unable to recuperate prior invested time and capital or being subject to lawsuits, or (iii) investigations or regulatory proceedings that could be time-consuming and expensive to respond to and which could lead to criminal or civil fines or penalties.

We are also subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business and/or other benefits. Some of the jurisdictions in which we currently, or may in the future, operate may present heightened risks for FCPA issues, such as Nicaragua, Jamaica, Brazil and Mexico or other countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Although we have adopted policies and procedures that are designed to ensure that we, our employees and other intermediaries comply with the FCPA, it is highly challenging to adopt policies and procedures that ensure compliance in all respects with the FCPA, particularly in high-risk jurisdictions. Developing and implementing policies and procedures is a complex endeavor. There is no assurance that these policies and procedures will work effectively all of the time or protect us against liability under anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA, for actions taken by our employees and other intermediaries with respect to our business or any businesses that we may acquire.

If we are not in compliance with trade and economic sanctions laws and anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA, we may be subject to costly and intrusive criminal and civil investigations as well significant potential criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, including changes or enhancements to our procedures, policies and control, the imposition of an independent compliance monitor, as well as potential personnel change and disciplinary actions. In addition, non-compliance with such laws could constitute a breach of certain covenants in operational or debt agreements, and cross-default provisions in certain of our agreements could mean that an event of default under certain of our commercial agreements could trigger an event of default under our other agreements, including our debt agreements. Any adverse finding against us could also negatively affect our relationship and reputation with current and potential customers. In addition, in certain countries we serve or expect to serve our customers through third-party agents and other intermediaries. Violations of applicable import, export, trade and economic sanctions, and anti-corruption laws and regulations by these third-party agents or intermediaries may also result in adverse consequences and repercussions to us. There can be no assurance that we and our agents and other intermediaries will be in compliance with these provisions in the future. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and future business prospects.  The U.S. sanctions and embargo laws and regulations vary in their application, as they do not all apply to the same covered persons or proscribe the same activities, and such sanctions and embargo laws and regulations may be amended or strengthened over time.

Although we believe that we have been in compliance with all applicable sanctions, embargo and anti-corruption laws and regulations, and intend to maintain such compliance, there can be no assurance that we will be in compliance in the future, particularly as the scope of certain laws may be unclear and may be subject to changing interpretations. Any such violation could result in fines, penalties or other sanctions that could severely impact our ability to access U.S. capital markets and conduct our business. In addition, certain financial institutions may have policies against lending or extending credit to companies that have contracts with U.S. embargoed countries or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism, which could adversely affect our ability to access funding and liquidity, our financial condition and prospects.

Our Charterers may inadvertently violate applicable sanctions and/or call on ports located in, or engage in transactions with, countries that are subject to restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other governments, which could adversely affect its business.

None of our vessels have called on ports located in countries subject to comprehensive sanctions and embargoes imposed by the U.S. government or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism.  When we charter our vessels to third parties we conduct comprehensive due diligence of the charterer and include prohibitions on the charterer calling on ports in countries subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions or otherwise engaging in commerce with such countries. However, our vessels may be sub-chartered out to a sanctioned party or call on ports of a sanctioned nation on charterers’ instruction, and without our knowledge or consent.  If our charterers or sub-charterers violate applicable sanctions and embargo laws and regulations as a result of actions that do not involve us, those violations could in turn negatively affect our reputation and cause us to incur significant costs associated with responding to any investigation into such violations.

Increasing transportation regulations may increase our costs and negatively impact our results of operations.

We are developing a transportation system specifically dedicated to transporting LNG using ISO tank containers and trucks to our customers and Facilities. This transportation system may include trucks that we or our affiliates own and operate. Any such operations would be subject to various trucking safety regulations in the various countries where we operate, including those which are enacted, reviewed and amended by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”). These regulatory authorities exercise broad powers, governing activities such as the authorization to engage in motor carrier operations, driver licensing, insurance requirements, and transportation of hazardous materials. To a large degree, intrastate motor carrier operations are subject to state and/or local safety regulations that mirror federal regulations but also regulate the weight and size dimensions of loads.  Any trucking operations would be subject to possible regulatory and legislative changes that may increase our costs. Some of these possible changes include changes in environmental regulations, changes in the hours of service regulations which govern the amount of time a driver may drive or work in any specific period, onboard black box recorder device requirements or limits on vehicle weight and size. In addition to increased costs, fines and penalties, any non-compliance or violation of these regulations, could result in the suspension of our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated results of operations and financial position.

Our chartered vessels operating in certain jurisdictions, including the United States, now or in the future, may be subject to cabotage laws, including the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, as amended (the “Jones Act”).

Certain activities related to our logistics and shipping operations may constitute “coastwise trade” within the meaning of laws and regulations of the U.S. and other jurisdictions in which we operate. Under these laws and regulations, often referred to as cabotage laws, including the Jones Act in the U.S., only vessels meeting specific national ownership and registration requirements or which are subject to an exception or exemption, may engage in such “coastwise trade”. When we operate or charter foreign-flagged vessels, we do so within the current interpretation of such cabotage laws with respect to permitted activities for foreign-flagged vessels. Significant changes in cabotage laws or to the interpretation of such laws in the places where we operate could affect our ability to operate or charter, or competitively operate or charter, our foreign-flagged vessels in those waters. If we do not continue to comply with such laws and regulations, we could incur severe penalties, such as fines or forfeiture of any vessels or their cargo, and any noncompliance or allegations of noncompliance could disrupt our operations in the relevant jurisdiction. Any noncompliance or alleged noncompliance could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, our business, our results of operations and cash flows, and could weaken our financial condition.

We do not own the land on which our projects are located and are subject to leases, rights-of-ways, easements and other property rights for our operations.

We have obtained long-term leases and corresponding rights-of-way agreements and easements with respect to the land on which various of our projects are located, including the Jamaica Facilities, the pipeline connecting the Montego Bay Facility to the Bogue Power Plant (as defined herein), the Miami Facility, the San Juan Facility and the CHP Plant are situated, facilities in Brazil such as the Garuva-Itapoa pipeline connecting the TBG pipeline to the Sao Francisco do Sul terminal, rights of way to the Petrobras/Transpetro OSPAR oil pipeline facilities, among others. In addition, our operations will require agreements with ports proximate to our facilities capable of handling the transload of LNG direct from our occupying vessel to our transportation assets. We do not own the land on which these facilities are located. As a result, we are subject to the possibility of increased costs to retain necessary land use rights as well as applicable law and regulations, including permits and authorizations from governmental agencies or third parties. If we were to lose these rights or be required to relocate, we would not be able to continue our operations at those sites and our business could be materially and adversely affected. For example, our ability to operate the CHP Plant is dependent on our ability to enforce the related lease. General Alumina Jamaica Limited (“GAJ”), one of the lessors, is a subsidiary of Noble Group, which completed a financial restructuring in 2018. If GAJ is involved in a bankruptcy or similar proceeding, such proceeding could negatively impact our ability to enforce the lease. If we are unable to enforce the lease due to the bankruptcy of GAJ or for any other reason, we could be unable to operate the CHP Plant or to execute on our contracts related thereto. If we are unable to enter into favorable contracts or to obtain the necessary regulatory and land use approvals on favorable terms, we may not be able to construct and operate our assets as anticipated, or at all, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be adversely affected by the joint investigation by Brazil and the Netherlands into allegations against Hygo’s former Chief Executive Officer, including allegations of improper payments made in Brazil.

On September 23, 2020, Eduardo Antonello, Hygo’s former Chief Executive Officer, was named in a joint corruption investigation in Brazil and the Netherlands. Mauricio Carvalho, the majority shareholder of Evolution Power Partners S.A. (“Evolution”), Hygo’s previous joint venture partner in Centrais Elétricas Barcarena S.A. (“CELBA”), was also named in the investigation. In connection with the investigation, on September 23, 2020, Brazilian federal police executed search warrants on Hygo’s office in Brazil and certain of its joint ventures and seized documents and electronic records and devices belonging to those entities relating to Mr. Antonello, Hygo and its joint ventures. On September 25, 2020, Hygo’s board of directors initiated an internal review with respect to Mr. Antonello’s conduct with respect to Hygo and its joint ventures. The board of directors was assisted in this review by outside counsel and accounting advisors. The review included forensic accounting work, review of certain contracts, interviews with certain company personnel and representatives, and review of internal audit material, certain corporate credit card expenses and Hygo’s anti-corruption policies. The board of directors of Hygo and its advisors did not identify any evidence establishing bribery or other corrupt conduct involving Hygo. In October 2020, before the review was completed, Mr. Antonello resigned as Chief Executive Officer and was replaced by Paul Hanrahan, who also joined the Hygo board of directors. The Hygo board of directors will continue its oversight and review of compliance procedures in accordance with the ethical and corporate governance standards established by applicable law. On April 7, 2021, Evolution transferred 100% of its interest in CELBA to Hygo and its affiliates. While Hygo has conducted its own internal investigation and did not identify evidence establishing bribery or other corrupt conduct involving Hygo, we do not know if any authority is conducting an investigation of Mr. Antonello or Hygo, the results of any investigation, or whether any litigation will arise out of, relating to, or in connection with the investigation or the extent of the impact that the investigation or any such litigation may have on Hygo’s or our businesses. Publicity or other events associating with Mr. Antonello or the investigation, regardless of their foundation or accuracy, could adversely affect Hygo’s and our reputation and our ability to conduct business in Brazil and other jurisdictions.

Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations.

Our current operations and future projects are subject to the inherent risks associated with construction of energy-related infrastructure, LNG, natural gas, power and maritime operations, shipping and transportation of hazardous substances, including explosions, pollution, release of toxic substances, fires, seismic events, hurricanes and other adverse weather conditions, acts of aggression or terrorism, and other risks or hazards, each of which could result in significant delays in commencement or interruptions of operations and/or result in damage to or destruction of the Facilities, Liquefaction Facilities and assets or damage to persons and property. We do not, nor do we intend to, maintain insurance against all of these risks and losses. In particular, we do not generally carry business interruption insurance or political risk insurance with respect to political disruption in the countries in which we operate and that may in the future experience significant political volatility. Therefore, the occurrence of one or more significant events not fully insured or indemnified against could create significant liabilities and losses or delays to our development timelines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects. Even if we choose to carry insurance for these events in the future, it may not be adequate to protect us from loss, which may include, for example, losses as a result of project delays or losses as a result of business interruption related to a political disruption. Any attempt to recover from loss from political disruption may be time-consuming and expensive, and the outcome may be uncertain. In addition, our insurance may be voidable by the insurers as a result of certain of our actions. Furthermore, we may be unable to procure adequate insurance coverage at commercially reasonable rates in the future. For example, environmental regulations have led in the past to increased costs for, and in the future may result in the lack of availability of, insurance against risks of environmental damage or pollution. Changes in the insurance markets attributable to terrorist attacks or political change may also make certain types of insurance more difficult or costly for us to obtain.

Our success depends on key members of our management, the loss of any of whom could disrupt our business operations.

We depend to a large extent on the services of our chief executive officer, Wesley R. Edens, some of our other executive officers and other key employees. Mr. Edens does not have an employment agreement with us. The loss of the services of Mr. Edens or one or more of our other key executives or employees could disrupt our operations and increase our exposure to the other risks described in this Item 1A. Risk Factors. We do not maintain key man insurance on Mr. Edens or any of our employees. As a result, we are not insured against any losses resulting from the death of our key employees.

We may experience increased labor costs and regulation, and the unavailability of skilled workers or our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel, as well as our ability to comply with such labor laws, could adversely affect us.

We are dependent upon the available labor pool of skilled employees for the construction and operation of our Facilities and Liquefaction Facilities, as well as our FSRUs, FLNGs and LNG carriers. We compete with other energy companies and other employers to attract and retain qualified personnel with the technical skills and experience required to construct and operate our infrastructure and assets and to provide our customers with the highest quality service. In addition, the tightening of the labor market due to the shortage of skilled employees may affect our ability to hire and retain skilled employees, impair our operations and require us to pay increased wages. We are subject to labor laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate and hire our personnel, which can govern such matters as minimum wage, overtime, union relations, local content requirements and other working conditions. For example, Brazil and Indonesia, where some of our vessels operate, require we hire a certain portion of local personnel to crew our vessels. Any inability to attract and retain qualified local crew members could adversely affect our operations, business, results of operations and financial condition.  Furthermore, should there be an outbreak of COVID-19 on our Facilities or vessels, adequate staffing or crewing may not be available to fulfill the obligations under our contracts. Due to COVID-19, we could face (i) difficulty in finding healthy qualified replacement employees; (ii) local or international transport or quarantine restrictions limiting the ability to transfer infected employees from or to our facilities or vessels, and (iii) restrictions in availability of supplies needed for our projects due to disruptions to third-party suppliers or transportation alternatives. See “—General Risks—We are unable to predict the extent to which the global COVID-19 pandemic will negatively affect our operations, financial performance, nor our ability to achieve our strategic objectives. We are also unable to predict how this global pandemic may affect our customers and suppliers”. A shortage in the labor pool of skilled workers or other general inflationary pressures or changes in applicable laws and regulations, could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified personnel and could require an increase in the wage and benefits packages that we offer, thereby increasing our operating costs. Any increase in our operating costs could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.

Our business could be affected adversely by labor disputes, strikes or work stoppages.

Some of our employees, particularly those in our Latin American operations, are represented by a labor union and are covered by collective bargaining agreements pursuant to applicable labor legislation. As a result, we are subject to the risk of labor disputes, strikes, work stoppages and other labor-relations matters. We could experience a disruption of our operations or higher ongoing labor costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Future negotiations with the unions or other certified bargaining representatives could divert management attention and disrupt operations, which may result in increased operating expenses and lower net income. Moreover, future agreements with unionized and non-unionized employees may be on terms that are note as attractive as our current agreements or comparable to agreements entered into by our competitors. Labor unions could also seek to organize some or all of our non-unionized workforce.

We are subject to the economic, political, social and other conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

Our financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected by foreign exchange fluctuations.

The market price and trading volume of our Class A common stock may be volatile, which could result in rapid and substantial losses for our stockholders.

The market price of our Class A common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in our Class A common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. If the market price of our Class A common stock declines significantly, you may be unable to resell your shares at or above your purchase price, if at all. The market price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate or decline significantly in the future. Some of the factors that could negatively affect our share price or result in fluctuations in the price or trading volume of our Class A common stock include:

Stock markets in the United States have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Market fluctuations, as well as general political and economic conditions such as acts of terrorism, prolonged economic uncertainty, a recession or interest rate or currency rate fluctuations, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock. Furthermore, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly following consummation of the Mergers if, among other things, the combined company is unable to achieve the expected growth in earnings, or if the operational cost savings estimates in connection with the integration of our, Hygo’s and GMLP’s businesses are not realized, or if the transaction costs relating to the Mergers are greater than expected, or if the financing relating to the transaction is on unfavorable terms. The market price also may decline if the combined company does not achieve the perceived benefits of the Mergers as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial or industry analysts or if the effect of the Mergers on the combined company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows is not consistent with the expectations of financial or industry analysts. In addition, the results of operations of the combined company and the market price of our common stock after the completion of the Mergers may be affected by factors different from those currently affecting the independent results of operations of each of our, Hygo’s and GMLP’s and business.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, qualify for and intend to rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

Affiliates of certain entities controlled by Wesley R. Edens, Randal A. Nardone and affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC (“Founder Entities”) hold a majority of the voting power of our stock. In addition, pursuant to the Shareholders’ Agreement, dated as of February 4, 2019, by and among the Company and the respective parties thereto (the “Shareholders’ Agreement”), the Founder Entities currently have the right to nominate a majority of the members of our Board of Directors. Furthermore, the Shareholders’ Agreement provides that the parties thereto will use their respective reasonable efforts (including voting or causing to be voted all of the Company’s voting shares beneficially owned by each) to cause to be elected to the Board, and to cause to continue to be in office the director nominees selected by the Founder Entities. Affiliates of NFE SMRS Holdings LLC are parties to the Shareholders’ Agreement and as of December 31, 2021 hold approximately 16.0% of the voting power of our stock. As a result, we are a controlled company within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, a group or another company is a controlled company and may elect not to comply with certain Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:

A small number of our original investors have the ability to direct the voting of a majority of our stock, and their interests may conflict with those of our other stockholders.

As of December 31, 2021, affiliates of the Founder Entities own an aggregate of approximately 112,223,619 shares of Class A common stock, representing 54.3% of our voting power. As of December 31, 2021, Wesley R. Edens, Randal A. Nardone and Fortress Investment Group LLC directly or indirectly own 72,627,776 shares, 26,196,526 shares and 13,399,317 shares, respectively, of our Class A common stock, representing 35.1%, 12.7% and 6.5% of the voting power of the Class A common stock, respectively. The beneficial ownership of greater than 50% of our voting stock means affiliates of the Founder Entities are able to control matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, changes to our organizational documents and significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership makes it unlikely that any other holder or group of holders of our Class A common stock will be able to affect the way we are managed or the direction of our business. The interests of the affiliates of the Founder Entities with respect to matters potentially or actually involving or affecting us, such as future acquisitions, financings and other corporate opportunities and attempts to acquire us, may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders, including holders of the Class A common stock.

Given this concentrated ownership, the affiliates of the Founder Entities would have to approve any potential acquisition of us. The existence of a significant stockholder may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers, delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in management, or limiting the ability of our other stockholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in the best interests of our company. Moreover, the concentration of stock ownership with affiliates of the Founder Entities may adversely affect the trading price of our securities, including our Class A common stock, to the extent investors perceive a disadvantage in owning securities of a company with a significant stockholder.

Furthermore, in connection with the Exchange Transactions (as defined herein), New Fortress Energy Holdings assigned, pursuant to the terms of the Shareholders’ Agreement, to the Founder Entities, New Fortress Energy Holdings’ right to designate a certain number of individuals to be nominated for election to our board of directors so long as its assignees collectively beneficially own at least 5% of the outstanding Class A common stock. The Shareholders’ Agreement provides that the parties to the Shareholders’ Agreement (including certain former members of New Fortress Energy Holdings) shall vote their stock in favor of such nominees. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation provides the Founder Entities the right to approve certain material transactions so long as the Founder Entities and their affiliates collectively, directly or indirectly, own at least 30% of the outstanding Class A common stock.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws, as well as Delaware law, contain provisions that could discourage acquisition bids or merger proposals, which may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock and could deprive our investors of the opportunity to receive a premium for their Class A common stock.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval in one or more series, designate the number of stock constituting any series, and fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption, redemption price or prices and liquidation preferences of such series. If our board of directors elects to issue preferred stock, it could be more difficult for a third-party to acquire us. In addition, some provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire control of us, even if the change of control would be beneficial to our securityholders. These provisions include:

Additionally, our Certificate of Incorporation provides that we have opted out of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. However, our Certificate of Incorporation includes a similar provision, which, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits us from engaging in a business combination with an “interested stockholder,” unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” means any person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock or an affiliate or associate of ours who owned 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock at any time within the previous three years, but shall not include any person who acquired such stock from the Founder Entities or NFE SMRS Holdings LLC (except in the context of a public offering) or any person whose ownership of stock in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock is the result of any action taken solely by us. Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the Founder Entities and NFE SMRS Holdings LLC and any of their respective direct or indirect transferees, and any group as to which such persons are a party, do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision.

Our By-Laws designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.

Our By-Laws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, employees or agents to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of our organizational documents or the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (“DGCL”), or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each such case subject to such Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provisions described in the preceding sentence. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it considers more likely to be favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our organizational documents inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

The declaration and payment of dividends to holders of our Class A common stock is at the discretion of our board of directors and there can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends in amounts or on a basis consistent with prior distributions to our investors, if at all.

The declaration and payment of dividends to holders of our Class A common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors in accordance with applicable law after taking into account various factors, including actual results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, net cash provided by operating activities, restrictions imposed by applicable law, our taxable income, our operating expenses and other factors our board of directors deem relevant. There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends in amounts or on a basis consistent with prior distributions to our investors, if at all. Because we are a holding company and have no direct operations, we will only be able to pay dividends from our available cash on hand and any funds we receive from our subsidiaries and our ability to receive distributions from our subsidiaries may be limited by the financing agreements to which they are subject.

The incurrence or issuance of debt which ranks senior to our Class A common stock upon our liquidation, including any debt issued in connection with the financing of the Mergers and future issuances of equity or equity-related securities, which would dilute the holdings of our existing Class A common stockholders and may be senior to our Class A common stock for the purposes of making distributions, periodically or upon liquidation, may negatively affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

We have incurred and may in the future incur or issue debt, including any debt issued in connection with the financing of the Mergers, or issue equity or equity-related securities to finance our operations, acquisitions or investments. Upon our liquidation, lenders and holders of our debt and holders of our preferred stock (if any) would receive a distribution of our available assets before Class A common stockholders. Any future incurrence or issuance of debt would increase our interest cost and could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. We are not required to offer any additional equity securities to existing Class A common stockholders on a preemptive basis. Therefore, additional issuances of Class A common stock, directly or through convertible or exchangeable securities (including limited partnership interests in our operating partnership), warrants or options, will dilute the holdings of our existing Class A common stockholders and such issuances, or the perception of such issuances, may reduce the market price of our Class A common stock. Any preferred stock issued by us would likely have a preference on distribution payments, periodically or upon liquidation, which could eliminate or otherwise limit our ability to make distributions to Class A common stockholders. Because our decision to incur or issue debt or issue equity or equity-related securities in the future will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, nature or success of our future capital raising efforts. Thus, Class A common stockholders bear the risk that our future incurrence or issuance of debt or issuance of equity or equity-related securities will adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

We may issue preferred stock, the terms of which could adversely affect the voting power or value of our Class A common stock.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws authorize us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock having such designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights, including preferences over our Class A common stock in respect of dividends and distributions, as our board of directors may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred stock could adversely impact the voting power or value of our Class A common stock. For example, we might grant holders of preferred stock the right to elect some number of our directors in all events or on the happening of specified events or the right to veto specified transactions. Similarly, the repurchase or redemption rights or liquidation preferences we might assign to holders of preferred stock could affect the residual value of the Class A common stock.

Sales or issuances of our Class A common stock could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales might occur, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock. The issuance of our Class A common stock in connection with property, portfolio or business acquisitions or the exercise of outstanding options or otherwise could also have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock.

An active, liquid and orderly trading market for our Class A common stock may not be maintained and the price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate significantly.

Prior to January 2019, there was no public market for our Class A common stock. An active, liquid and orderly trading market for our Class A common stock may not be maintained. Active, liquid and orderly trading markets usually result in less price volatility and more efficiency in carrying out investors’ purchase and sale orders. The market price of our Class A common stock could vary significantly as a result of a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. In the event of a drop in the market price of our Class A common stock, you could lose a substantial part or all of your investment in our Class A common stock.

We are a holding company and our operational and consolidated financial results are dependent on the results of our subsidiaries, affiliates, joint ventures and special purpose entities in which we invest.

We conduct our business mainly through our operating subsidiaries and affiliates, including joint ventures and other special purpose entities, which are created specifically to participate in projects or manage a specific asset. Our ability to meet our financial obligations is therefore related in part to the cash flow and earnings of our subsidiaries and affiliates and the ability or willingness of these entities to make distributions or other transfers of earnings to us in the form of dividends, loans or other advances and payments, which are governed by various shareholder agreements, joint venture financing and operating arrangements. In addition, some of our operating subsidiaries, joint venture and special purpose entities are subject to restrictive covenants related to their indebtedness, including restrictions on dividend distributions. Any additional debt or other financing could include similar restrictions, which would limit their ability to make distributions or other transfers of earnings to us in the form of dividends, loans or other advances and payments. Similarly, we may fail to realize anticipated benefits of any joint venture or similar arrangement, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operation.

We may engage in mergers, sales and acquisitions, divestments, reorganizations or similar transactions related to our businesses or assets in the future and we may fail to successfully complete such transaction or to realize the expected value.

In furtherance of our business strategy, we may engage in mergers, purchases or sales, divestments, reorganizations or other similar transactions related to our businesses or assets in the future. Any such transactions may be subject to significant risks and contingencies, including the risk of integration, valuation and successful implementation, and we may not be able to realize the benefits of any such transactions. We may also engage in sales of our assets or sale and leaseback transactions that seek to monetize our assets and there is no guarantee that such sales of assets will be executed at the prices we desire or higher than the values we currently carry these assets at on our balance sheet.  We do not know if we will be able to successfully complete any such transactions or whether we will be able to retain key personnel, suppliers or distributors. Our ability to successfully implement our strategy through such transactions depends upon our ability to identify, negotiate and complete suitable transactions and to obtain the required financing on terms acceptable to us. These efforts could be expensive and time consuming, disrupt our ongoing business and distract management. If we are unable to successfully complete our transactions, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

A change in tax laws in any country in which we operate could adversely affect us.

Tax laws, regulations and treaties are highly complex and subject to interpretation. Consequently, we are subject to changing laws, treaties and regulations in and between the countries in which we operate. Our tax expense is based on our interpretation of the tax laws in effect at the time the expense was incurred. A change in tax laws, regulations, or treaties, or in the interpretation thereof, could result in a materially higher tax expense or a higher effective tax rate on our earnings. Our after-tax profitability could be affected by numerous factors, including the availability of tax credits, exemptions and other benefits to reduce our tax liabilities, changes in the relative amount of our earnings subject to tax in the various jurisdictions in which we operate, the potential expansion of our business into or otherwise becoming subject to tax in additional jurisdictions, changes to our existing businesses and operations, the extent of our intercompany transactions and the extent to which taxing authorities in the relevant jurisdictions respect those intercompany transactions. Our after-tax profitability may also be affected by changes in the relevant tax laws and tax rates, regulations, administrative practices and principles, judicial decisions, and interpretations, in each case, possibly with retroactive effect.

We are and may be involved in legal proceedings and may experience unfavorable outcomes.

We are and may in the future be subject to material legal proceedings in the course of our business or otherwise, including, but not limited to, actions relating to contract disputes, business practices, intellectual property, real estate and leases, and other commercial, tax, regulatory and permitting matters. Such legal proceedings may involve claims for substantial amounts of money or for other relief or might necessitate changes to our business or operations, and the defense of such actions may be both time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, the process of litigating requires substantial time, which may distract our management. Even if we are successful, any litigation may be costly, and may approximate the cost of damages sought. These actions could also expose us to adverse publicity, which might adversely affect our reputation and therefore, our results of operations. Further, if any such proceedings were to result in an unfavorable outcome, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, prevent fraud and operate successfully as a publicly traded company. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results would be harmed. We cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or that we will be able to comply with our obligations under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Any failure to develop or maintain effective internal controls, or difficulties encountered in implementing or improving our internal controls, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock.

As a public company with stock listed on Nasdaq, we are subject to an extensive body of regulations, including certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, regulations of the SEC and Nasdaq requirements. Compliance with these rules and regulations increases our legal, accounting, compliance and other expenses. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we added independent directors and created additional board committees. We entered into an administrative services agreement with FIG LLC, an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group (which currently employs Messrs. Edens, our chief executive officer and chairman of our Board of Directors, and Nardone, one of our Directors), in connection with the IPO, pursuant to which FIG LLC provides us with certain back-office services and charges us for selling, general and administrative expenses incurred to provide these services. In addition, we may incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements and maintaining directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. It is possible that our actual incremental costs of being a publicly traded company will be higher than we currently estimate, and the incremental costs may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our Class A common stock or if our operating results do not meet their expectations, our share price could decline.

Our Class A common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “NFE.” On February February 24, 2022, there were 17 holders of record of our Class A common stock. This number does not include shareholders whose shares are held for them in “street name” meaning that such shares are held for their accounts by a broker or other nominee. The actual number of beneficial shareholders is greater than the number of holders of record.

We declared dividends of $0.10 per share in March, June, September and December totaling $79,834 in dividend payments during the year ended December 31, 2021. Our future dividend policy is within the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon then-existing conditions, including our results of operations and financial condition, capital requirements, business prospects, statutory and contractual restrictions on our ability to pay dividends, including restrictions contained in our debt agreements, and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant.

The information required by this Item is set forth in the Company’s Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2021 in connection with our 2022 annual meeting of shareholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

The following graph compares the cumulative total return to shareholders on our Class A common stock relative to the S&P 500, iShares Global Clean Energy ETF Index (“ICLN”) and Vanguard Energy ETF (“VDE”), including reinvestment of dividends. The graph assumes that on January 31, 2019, the date our Class A shares began trading on the NASDAQ, $100 was invested in our Class A shares and in each index based on the closing market price, and that all dividends were reinvested. The returns shown are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance.

The following Performance Graph and related information is being furnished and shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

On February 4, 2019, we completed the IPO of 20,000,000 Class A shares pursuant to our registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-228339) (the “Registration Statement”) declared effective by the SEC on January 30, 2019. In connection with the IPO, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC acted as representatives of the underwriters; Evercore Group L.L.C. and Allen & Company LLC acted as joint book-running managers; and JMP Securities LLC and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Incorporated acted as co-managers. The gross proceeds of the IPO, based on a public offering price of $14.00 per Class A share, were $280.0 million, which resulted in net proceeds to us of $257.0 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and transaction costs. In addition, on March 1, 2019, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 837,272 Class A shares at the initial offering price of $14.00 per share, less underwriting discounts, which resulted in $11.0 million in additional net proceeds after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, such that there were 20,837,272 outstanding Class A shares. We contributed the net proceeds of the IPO to NFI in exchange for NFI’s issuance to us of 20,837,272 NFI LLC Units. NFI used the net proceeds in connection with the construction of our Facilities, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes, including the development of future projects. No fees or expenses were paid, directly or indirectly, to any officer, director, 10% unitholder or other affiliate.

In December 2020, NFE issued 5,882,352 shares of Class A common stock and received proceeds of $290.8 million, net of $1.2 million in issuance costs. These proceeds were used for general corporate purposes.

Unless the context otherwise requires, references to “Company,” “NFE,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to (i) prior to our conversion from a limited liability company to a corporation, New Fortress Energy LLC and its subsidiaries and (ii) following the conversion from a limited liability company to a corporation, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries. Unless the context otherwise requires, references to “Company,” “NFE,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms refer to (i) prior to the completion of Mergers, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, excluding Hygo Energy Transition Ltd. (“Hygo”) and its subsidiaries and Golar LNG Partners LP (“GMLP”) and its subsidiaries, and (ii) after completion of the Mergers, New Fortress Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries, including Hygo and its subsidiaries and GMLP and its subsidiaries.

Overview

Subsequent to the completion of the Mergers, our chief operating decision maker makes resource allocation decisions and assesses performance on the basis of two operating segments, Terminals and Infrastructure and Ships.

Our Ships segment includes all vessels acquired in the Mergers, which are leased to customers under long-term or spot arrangements, including the 25-year charter of Nanook with CELSE. The Company’s investment in Hilli LLC, owner and operator of the Hilli, is also included in the Ships segment. Over time, we expect to utilize these vessels in our own terminal operations as charter agreements for these vessels expire.

Our Current Operations – Terminals and Infrastructure

Our management team has successfully employed our strategy to secure long-term contracts with significant customers in Jamaica and Puerto Rico, including Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (“JPS”), the sole public utility in Jamaica, South Jamaica Power Company Limited (“SJPC”), an affiliate of JPS, Jamalco, a bauxite mining and alumina producer in Jamaica, and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (“PREPA”), each of which is described in more detail below. Our assets built to service these significant customers have been designed with capacity to service other customers.

We currently procure our LNG either by purchasing from a supplier or by manufacturing it in our Miami Facility. Our long-term goal is to develop the infrastructure necessary to supply our existing and future customers with LNG produced primarily at our own facilities, including Fast LNG and our expanded delivery logistics chain in Northern Pennsylvania (the “Pennsylvania Facility”) in addition to supplying our customers through long-term LNG contracts.

Montego Bay Facility

The Montego Bay Facility serves as our supply hub for the north side of Jamaica, providing natural gas to JPS to fuel the 145MW Bogue Power Plant in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Our Montego Bay Facility commenced commercial operations in October 2016 and is capable of processing up to 740,000 gallons of LNG (61,000 MMBtu) per day and features approximately 7,000 cubic meters of onsite storage. The Montego Bay Facility also consists of an ISO loading facility that can transport LNG to numerous on-island industrial users.

Old Harbour Facility

The Old Harbour Facility is an offshore facility consisting of an FSRU that is capable of processing approximately six million gallons of LNG (500,000 MMBtus) per day. The Old Harbour Facility commenced commercial operations in June 2019 and supplies natural gas to the 190MW Old Harbour power plant (the “Old Harbour Power Plant”) operated by SJPC. The Old Harbour Facility is also supplying natural gas to our dual-fired combined heat and power facility in Clarendon, Jamaica (the “CHP Plant”). The CHP Plant supplies electricity to JPS under a long-term PPA. The CHP Plant also provides steam to Jamalco under a long-term take-or-pay SSA. In March 2020, the CHP Plant commenced commercial operation under both the PPA and the SSA and began supplying power and steam to JPS and Jamalco, respectively. In August 2020, we began to deliver gas to Jamalco to utilize in their gas-fired boilers.

San Juan Facility

Sergipe Power Plant and Sergipe Facility

Miami Facility

Our Miami Facility began operations in April 2016. This facility has liquefaction capacity of approximately 100,000 gallons of LNG (8,300 MMBtu) per day and enables us to produce LNG for sales directly to industrial end-users in southern Florida, including Florida East Coast Railway via our train loading facility, and other customers throughout the Caribbean using ISO containers.

Our Current Operations – Ships

Our Ships segment includes six FSRUs and five LNGCs, which are leased to customers under long-term or spot arrangements, including a 25-year charter of Nanook with CELSE. As these charter arrangements expire, we expect to use these vessels in our terminal operations and reflect such vessels in our Terminals and Infrastructure segment. We began to use one acquired LNGC in our terminal operations in the third quarter of 2021, and the results of operations of this vessel are no longer included in the Ships segment.

The Company’s investment in Hilli LLC, owner and operator of the Hilli, is also included in the Ships segment. Hilli Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilli LLC, has a Liquefication Tolling Agreement (“LTA”) with Perenco Cameroon S.A. and Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures under which the Hilli provides liquefaction services through July 2026. Under the LTA, Hilli Corp receives a monthly tolling fee, consisting of a fixed element of hire and incremental tolling fees based on the price of Brent crude oil.

Our Development Projects

La Paz Facility

In July 2021, we began commercial operations at the Port of Pichilingue in Baja California Sur, Mexico (the “La Paz Facility”). Initially, we are supplying CFEnergia with natural gas to power plants located in Punta Prieta and Coromuel for an estimated 250,000 gallons of LNG (20,700 MMBtu) per day, and we are in commercial discussions with CFEnergia to increase the volumes and extend the tenor of agreements to further their transition to gas-fired power. The La Paz Facility is expected to supply approximately an additional 270,000 gallons of LNG (22,300 MMBtu) per day to our 100MW of power supplied by gas-fired modular power units (the “La Paz Power Plant”) following the start of operations. Natural gas supply to the La Paz Power Plant may be increased to approximately 350,000 gallons (29,000 MMBtu) of LNG per day for up to 135MW of power.

Puerto Sandino Facility

Barcarena Facility

Santa Catarina Facility

The Santa Catarina Facility will be located on the southern coast of Brazil and will consist of an FSRU with a processing capacity of approximately 570,000 MMBtu per day and LNG storage capacity of up to 170,000 cubic meters. We are also developing a 33-kilometer, 20-inch pipeline that will connect the Santa Catarina Facility to the existing inland Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto Bolivia-Brasil S.A. (“TBG”) pipeline via an interconnection point in Garuva. The Santa Catarina Facility and associated pipeline are expected to have a total addressable market of 15 million cubic meters per day.

Suape Facility

Ireland Facility

Fast LNG

We are currently developing a modular floating liquefaction facility to provide a low-cost supply of liquefied natural gas for our growing customer base. The “Fast LNG” design pairs advancements in modular, midsize liquefaction technology with jack up rigs, semi-submersible rigs or similar floating infrastructure to enable a much lower cost and faster deployment schedule than today’s floating liquefaction vessels. A permanently moored FSU will serve as an LNG storage facility alongside the floating liquefaction infrastructure, which can be deployed anywhere there is abundant and stranded natural gas.

Other Projects

Since August 2021, LNG prices have increased materially. We have supply commitments to secure LNG volumes equal to approximately 100% of our expected needs for our Montego Bay Facility, Old Harbour Facility, San Juan Facility, La Paz Facility and Puerto Sandino Facility for the next six years. Due to this significant increase in market pricing of LNG, we have optimized our supply portfolio to sell a portion of these cargos in the market, and these sales have positively impacted our results for the third and fourth quarters of 2021. Cargo sales of 18.5 TBtus were completed in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, increasing our revenues and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Many of the vessels acquired in the Mergers operate under long-term contracts with fixed payments. We are required to have adequate crewing aboard our vessels to fulfill the obligations under our contracts, and we have implemented safety measures to ensure that we have healthy qualified officers and crew. We monitor local or international transport or quarantine restrictions limiting the ability to transfer crew members off vessels or bring a new crew on board, and restrictions in availability of supplies needed on board due to disruptions to third-party suppliers or transportation alternatives, and we have not experienced significant disruptions in our operations due to these measures or restrictions.

Based on the essential nature of the services we provide to support power generation facilities, our operations and development projects have not currently been significantly impacted by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We remain committed to prioritizing the health and well-being of our employees, customers, suppliers and other partners. We have implemented policies to screen employees, contractors, and vendors for COVID-19 symptoms upon entering our development projects, operations and office facilities. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we have incurred approximately $0.8 million for safety measures introduced into our operations and other responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 18, 2020, we received an order from FERC, which asked us to explain why our San Juan Facility is not subject to FERC’s jurisdiction under section 3 of the NGA. Because we do not believe that the San Juan Facility is jurisdictional, we provided our reply to FERC on July 20, 2020 and requested that FERC act expeditiously. On March 19, 2021 FERC issued an order that the San Juan Facility does fall under FERC jurisdiction. FERC directed us to file an application for authorization to operate the San Juan Facility within 180 days of the order, which is September 15, 2021, but also found that allowing operation of the San Juan Facility to continue during the pendency of an application is in the public interest. FERC also concluded that no enforcement action against us is warranted, presuming we comply with the requirements of the order. Parties to the proceeding, including the Company, sought rehearing of the March 19, 2021 FERC order, and FERC denied all requests for rehearing in an order issued on July 15, 2021. We have filed petitions for review of FERC’s March 19 and July 15 orders with the United States Court of the Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. To date, no other party has sought review of FERC’s orders. While our petitions for review are pending, and in order to comply with the FERC’s directive, on September 15, 2021 we filed an application for authorization to operate the San Juan Facility, which remains pending.

Results of Operations – Year Ended December 31, 2021 compared to Year Ended December 31, 2020 (in thousands)

Segment performance is evaluated based on segment operating margin and the tables below presents our segment information for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Total revenue for the Terminals and Infrastructure Segment increased $914,492 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily driven by the overall increase in price and volumes delivered in the current period, the sale of cargos of LNG to third parties outside of our terminal operations and the inclusion of incremental revenue in our segment measure from CELSEPAR after the completion of the Mergers. Our contracts with customers in this segment are primarily priced based on the Henry Hub index, and there have been significant increases in this price index in the second half of 2021, positively impacting our revenue. The average Henry Hub index pricing used to invoice our customers increased by 85% for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. Additionally, we recognized additional revenue from more volumes sold to the PREPA San Juan Power Plant in Puerto Rico.

The following tables summarize the volumes delivered in the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020:

The Old Harbour Facility sold additional volumes in the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. Increases in revenue were further impacted by substantial increases to natural gas pricing. Revenue was impacted by operations at our Old Harbour Facility:

Revenue was also impacted by operations at our Montego Bay Facility.

Sales at the PREPA San Juan Power Plant increased by $61,921 from $129,753 for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $191,674 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was driven by additional volumes consumed at the San Juan Power Plant, increasing by 54.5 million gallons (4.2 TBtu), as our San Juan Facility was not completed until July 2020.

Revenue from cargo sales was $462,695 for the year ended December 31, 2021; there were no comparable transactions in the year ended December 31, 2020.

Subsequent to the acquisition of our interest in the Sergipe Facility as part of the Mergers, our share of revenue from our investment in CELSEPAR was $299,168 for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was primarily comprised of fixed capacity payments received under our PPAs. Revenue recognized from the operation of the Sergipe Power Plant was significantly increased in the third and fourth quarters of 2021 by emergency dispatch due to poor hydrological conditions in Brazil. Our proportionate share of revenue from the Sergipe Facility is included in this discussion as such revenue is included in our segment measure; in our consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss, we report the results from our investment in CELSEPAR as Income from equity method investments.

Cost of sales includes the procurement of feedgas or LNG, as well as shipping and logistics costs to deliver LNG or natural gas to our facilities. Our LNG and natural gas supply are purchased from third parties or converted in our Miami Facility. Costs to convert natural gas to LNG, including labor, depreciation and other direct costs to operate our Miami Facility are also included in Cost of sales.

Cost of sales increased $510,302 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.

The weighted-average cost of our LNG inventory balance to be used in our Jamaican and Puerto Rican operations as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 was $0.80 per gallon ($9.71 per MMBtu) and $0.40 per gallon ($4.81 per MMBtu), respectively.

Charter costs increased Cost of sales by $7,633 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was attributable to an additional vessel in our fleet associated with our San Juan Facility after our assets were placed in service in the third quarter of 2020, as well as an additional vessel lease that we assumed as part of the Mergers. These increases were partially offset by lower costs associated with the Freeze, that we now own as a result of the Mergers.

Operations and maintenance includes costs of operating our facilities, exclusive of costs to convert that are reflected in Cost of sales. Operations and maintenance increased $44,843 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.

At the completion of the Mergers, five of the FSRUs and two LNGCs were on hire under long-term charter agreements, and one LNGCs, the Grand, was operating in the spot market. In the third quarter, the Grand, began to be utilized in our terminal and logistics operations, and as such, the results of operations of the Grand are included in the Terminals and Infrastructure segment from the third quarter of 2021 onward. The Spirit and the Mazo continue to be in cold lay-up, and no vessel charter revenue was generated from these vessels.

Two of the vessels acquired in the Mergers, the Celsius and the Penguin, have participated in a pooling arrangement, which we refer to as the Cool Pool. Under this arrangement, the pool manager markets participating vessels in the LNG shipping spot market, and the vessel owner continues to be fully responsible for the manning and technical management of their respective vessels. Revenue for charters of our vessels in the Cool Pool is presented on a gross basis in revenue, and our allocation of our share of the net revenues earned from the other pool participants’ vessels, which may be either income or expense depending on the results of all pool participants, is reflected on a net basis within Vessel operating expenses. The Penguin exited the Cool Pool in the third quarter of 2021, and we have chartered this vessel to a third party outside of the Cool Pool.

Our segment measure includes our proportionate share of the results of operations of the Hilli. Our share of revenue from our investment in Hilli LLC was $73,772 for the year ended December 31, 2021 which was primarily comprised of fees received under the long-term tolling arrangement.

Selling, general and administrative

Selling, general and administrative includes compensation expenses for our corporate employees, employee travel costs, insurance, professional fees for our advisors and screening costs associated with development activities for projects that are in initial stages and development is not yet probable.

Selling, general and administrative increased $79,739 for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to $33,059 of higher payroll costs associated with increased headcount for the year ended December 31, 2021. Subsequent to the Mergers, we now have employees that were part of Hygo’s operations; we have also hired additional employees to support our larger organization, including personnel to support additional development projects.  In the fourth quarter of 2021, due to the significant impact of cargo sales on our results of operations, we determined that the performance metric associated with our performance share units granted in 2020 was probable of vesting, and we recognized $30,467 of share-based compensation expense.

We have incurred higher office lease, insurance and IT expenses associated with additional office space, and our travel and entertainment expenses have increased due to the relaxation of travel restrictions that were in place for much of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. These costs increased our Selling, general and administrative by $10,918.

Transaction and integration costs

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $44,671 for transaction and integration costs, as compared to $4,028 for the year ended December 31, 2020. As part of arranging financing for the Mergers, we incurred $15,000 in bridge financing commitment fees. We issued the 2026 Notes to pay for a portion of the consideration for the Mergers and did not utilize the commitments under the bridge financing, and as such, the fees were expensed with the termination of the bridge financing commitment letter in the second quarter of 2021. We also incurred $3,978 of costs related to the settlement of a contractual indemnification obligation under a pre-existing lease arrangement prior to the GMLP Merger. The remaining transaction and integration costs were incurred in connection with the Mergers, which consisted primarily of financial advisory, legal, accounting and consulting costs.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred $4,028 of third-party fees associated with a new credit agreement that was accounted for as a modification.

Loss on mitigation sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $124,114. In June 2020, we executed an agreement to terminate our obligation to purchase LNG from our supplier for the remainder of 2020 in exchange for a payment of $105,000, and we recognized this cancellation charge during the second quarter of 2020. We terminated our obligation in the second quarter of 2020 to both take advantage of the low pricing in the open market and to align future deliveries of LNG with our expected needs. Additionally, in the second quarter of 2020, we experienced lower than expected consumption by some of our customers, primarily as a result of unplanned maintenance at one of our customer’s facilities in Jamaica. As a result, we were unable to utilize a firm cargo purchased under our LNG supply agreement, incurring a loss of $18,906 on the sale of this cargo that was recognized during the second quarter of 2020. We did not have such transactions during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Depreciation and amortization increased $66,001 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to the following:

Interest expense

Interest expense increased by $88,601 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to an increase in total principal outstanding due to the issuance of the 2025 Notes in September 2020, the 2026 Notes in April 2021, draws on the Revolving Facility, borrowings under the Vessel Term Loan Facility and the CHP Facility (all defined below); principal balance on outstanding facilities was $3,896,155 as of December 31, 2021 as compared to total outstanding debt of $1,250,000 as of December 31, 2020.

In conjunction with the Mergers, we assumed outstanding debentures issued by a subsidiary of Hygo and the outstanding debt of variable interest entities (“VIEs”) that are now consolidated in our financial statements, totaling $630,563 as of the acquisition date. Although we have no control over the funding arrangements of these entities, we are the primary beneficiary of these VIEs and therefore these loan facilities are presented as part of the consolidated financial statements.

Upon assumption of the debt held by VIEs, we recognized the liabilities assumed at fair value and amortization of the discount from carrying value has been recorded as additional interest expense. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized additional interest expense attributable to assumed debt of VIEs of $11,766.

Other (income) expense, net

Other (income) expense, net increased by $22,155 for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. Other (income), net of $17,150 primarily consisted of:

Loss on extinguishment of debt, net

Loss on extinguishment of debt for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $10,975. In November 2021, we exercised our option to terminate the sale leaseback agreement of the Eskimo assumed in the Mergers in exchange for a total payment of $190,518. The counterparty to this sale leaseback arrangement (“Eskimo SPV”) has been consolidated in our financial statements subsequent to the Mergers. In connection with the termination of this financing arrangement, we recognized a loss on extinguishment of debt based on the difference between the repurchase price under the sale leaseback arrangement and the carrying value of the net assets of the Eskimo SPV upon deconsolidation.

Loss on extinguishment of debt for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $33,062 as a result of the extinguishment of previous credit facilities in January 2020 and September 2020.

Tax provision

We recognized a tax provision for the year ended December 31, 2021 of $12,461 compared to a tax provision of $4,817 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase to the tax provision and effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily driven by an increase in pre-tax income in certain profitable foreign operations, primarily in Jamaica. We also acquired profitable vessel operations in the United Kingdom in the Mergers. For the year ended December 31, 2021, these increases in tax expense were partially offset by earnings generated in foreign jurisdictions with preferential tax rates.

Income from equity method investments

During the period after the completion of the Mergers, we recognized income from our investments in Hilli and CELSEPAR of $14,443 for the year ended December 31, 2021. Our proportionate share of the earnings of $36,866 were offset by amortization of basis differences through our equity earnings of $22,423 for the year ended December 31, 2021. During the period after the Mergers, our share of earnings from CELSEPAR was impacted by a foreign currency remeasurement gain of $2,261 for the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily as a result of the remeasurement of the Nanook finance lease obligation.

Factors Impacting Comparability of Our Financial Results

Our historical results of operations and cash flows are not indicative of results of operations and cash flows to be expected in the future, principally for the following reasons:

Since August 2021, LNG prices have increased materially. Due to this significant increase in market pricing of LNG, we have optimized our supply portfolio to sell a portion of our committed cargos in the market with delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021, and these cargo sales increased our revenues and results of operations.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Contractual Obligations

We are committed to make cash payments in the future pursuant to certain contracts. The following table summarizes certain contractual obligations in place as of December 31, 2021:

Cash Flows

Debenture Loan

The Debenture Loan is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by 100% of the shares issued by NFE Brasil owned by our consolidated subsidiary, LNG Power Ltd.

CHP Facility

In August 2021, NFE South Power Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NFE, entered into a financing agreement (“CHP Facility”). We received approximately $100,000 under the CHP Facility, and the CHP Facility is secured by a mortgage over the lease of the site on which the CHP Plant and related security. We incurred $3,243 in origination, structuring and other fees associated with entry into the CHP Facility, which was deferred as a reduction of the principal balance of the CHP Facility on the consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2021, the remaining unamortized deferred financing costs for the CHP Facility was $3,180.

Subsequent to December 31, 2021, South Power and the counterparty to the CHP Facility agreed to rescind the CHP Facility and entered into an agreement for the issuance of secured bonds (“South Power 2029 Bonds”) and subsequently authorized the issuance of up to $285,000 in South Power 2029 Bonds. The South Power 2029 Bonds are secured by, amongst other things, the CHP Plant. Amounts outstanding at the time of the mutual rescission of the CHP Facility of $100,000 were credited towards the purchase price of the South Power 2029 Bonds. In February 2022, $59,730 was funded under the South Power 2029 Bonds.

The South Power 2029 Bonds will bear interest at an annual fixed rate of 6.50% and will mature seven years from the closing date of the final tranche. No principal payments will be due until 2025. It is expected that beginning in May 2025, principal payments will be due on a quarterly basis. Interest payments on outstanding principal balances will be due quarterly.

South Power will continue to be required to comply with certain financial covenants as well as customary affirmative and negative covenants. The South Power 2029 Bonds also provides for customary events of default, prepayment and cure provisions.

Subsequent to December 31, 2021, on February 28, 2022, we entered into an amendment to the Revolving Facility to increase the commitment thereunder by up to $200,000.

SPV Leasebacks and Loans

We assumed sale leaseback arrangements for four vessels as part of the Mergers.  The counterparty to each of the sale leaseback arrangements is a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”) wholly owned by financial institutions.  The sale leasebacks with SPVs were funded by loan facilities obtained by the SPV. Although we have no control over the funding arrangements of these entities, we are the primary beneficiary of the SPVs and consolidate the SPVs. Therefore, the effects of the sale leaseback arrangements are eliminated upon consolidation of the SPVs and only the outstanding loan facilities are presented as part of our consolidated financial statements. The SPVs service the loan facilities through payments made by us under the sale leaseback arrangements.

The SPV loans and the sale leaseback arrangements assumed in the Mergers contain certain operating and financing restrictions and covenants that require: (a) certain subsidiaries to maintain a minimum level of liquidity of $30,000 and consolidated net worth of $123,950, (b) certain subsidiaries to maintain a minimum debt service coverage ratio of 1.20:1, (c) certain subsidiaries to not exceed a maximum net debt to EBITDA ratio of 6.5:1, (d) certain subsidiaries to maintain a minimum percentage of the vessel values over the relevant outstanding loan facility balances of either 110% and 120%, (e) certain subsidiaries to maintain a ratio of liabilities to total assets of less than 0.70:1. As of December  31, 2021, the Company was in compliance with all covenants under debt and lease agreements.

Nanook Leaseback and Credit Facility

Penguin Leaseback and Credit Facility

Celsius Leaseback and Credit Facility

Eskimo Leaseback and Credit Facility

In November 2021, we exercised our option to repurchase the Eskimo for a total payment of $190,518. After exercising the repurchase option, we no longer have a controlling financial interest in the Eskimo SPV and no longer recognize the Eskimo SPV Facility in our consolidated financial statements. In connection with the repurchase of the Eskimo, we recognized a loss on extinguishment of debt of $10,975 for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Series A Preferred Units

Sergipe Debt Financing

Golar Hilli Leaseback

Letter of Credit Facility

Summary of Critical Accounting Estimates

The current and non-current portion of finance leases are recorded within Prepaid expenses and other current assets and Finance leases, net on the consolidated balance sheets, respectively. For finance leases accounted for as sales-type leases, the profit from the sale of equipment is recognized upon lease commencement in Other revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The lease payments for finance leases are segregated into principal and interest components similar to a loan. Interest income is recognized on an effective interest method over the lease term and included in Other revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The principal component of the lease payment is reflected as a reduction to the net investment in the lease.

In addition to the revenue recognized from the finance lease components of agreements with customers, Other revenue includes revenue recognized from the construction, installation and commissioning of equipment, inclusive of natural gas delivered for the commissioning process, to transform customers’ facilities to operate utilizing natural gas or to allow customers to receive power or other outputs from our natural gas-fueled power generation facilities and the sale of LNG cargos. Revenue from these development services is recognized over time as we transfer control of the asset to the customer or based on the quantity of natural gas consumed as part of commissioning the customer’s facilities until such time that the customer has declared such conversion services have been completed. If the customer is not able to obtain control over the asset under construction until such services are completed, revenue is recognized when the services are completed and the customer has control of the infrastructure. Such agreements may also include a significant financing component, and we recognize revenue for the interest income component over the term of the financing as Other revenue.

The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in receivables, contract assets and contract liabilities. Receivables represent unconditional rights to consideration. Contract assets are comprised of the transaction price allocated to completed performance obligations that will be billed to customers in subsequent periods. Contract assets are recognized within Prepaid expenses and other current assets, net and Other non-current assets, net on the consolidated balance sheets. Contract liabilities consist of deferred revenue and are recognized within Other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.

Shipping and handling costs are not considered to be separate performance obligations. All such shipping and handling activities are performed prior to the customer obtaining control of the LNG or natural gas.

We collect sales taxes from our customers based on sales of taxable products and remits such collections to the appropriate taxing authority. We have elected to present sales tax collections in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) on a net basis and, accordingly, such taxes are excluded from reported revenues.

We elected the practical expedient under which we do not adjust consideration for the effects of a significant financing component for those contracts where we expect at contract inception that the period between transferring goods to the customer and receiving payment from the customer will be one year or less.

Ships

Charter contracts for the use of the FSRUs and LNG carriers acquired as part of the Mergers are leases as the contracts convey the right to obtain substantially all of the economic benefits from the use of the asset and allow the customer to direct the use of that asset.

At inception, we make an assessment on whether the charter contract is an operating lease or a finance lease. In making the classification assessment, we estimate the residual value of the underlying asset at the end of the lease term with reference to broker valuations. None of the vessel lease contracts contain residual value guarantees. Renewal periods and termination options are included in the lease term if we believe such options are reasonably certain to be exercised by the lessee. Generally, lease accounting commences when the asset is made available to the customer, however, where the contract contains specific customer acceptance testing conditions, the lease will not commence until the asset has successfully passed the acceptance test. We assess leases for modifications when there is a change to the terms and conditions of the contract that results in a change in the scope or the consideration of the lease.

For charter contracts that are determined to be finance leases accounted for as sales-type leases, the profit from the sale of the vessel is recognized upon lease commencement in Other revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The lease payments for finance leases are segregated into principal and interest components similar to a loan. Interest income is recognized on an effective interest method over the lease term and included in Other revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). The principal component of the lease payment is reflected as a reduction to the net investment in the lease. Revenue related to operating and service agreements in connection with charter contracts accounted for as sales-type leases are recognized over the term of the charter as the service is provided within Vessel charter revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss).

Revenues include fixed minimum lease payments under charters accounted for as operating leases and fees for repositioning vessels. Revenues generated from charters contracts are recorded over the term of the charter on a straight-line basis as service is provided and is included in Vessel charter revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Fixed revenue includes fixed payments (including in-substance fixed payments that are unavoidable) and variable payments based on a rate or index. For operating leases, we have elected the practical expedient to combine service revenue and operating lease income as the timing and pattern of transfer of the components are the same. Variable lease payments are recognized in the period in which the circumstances on which the variable lease payments are based occur.

Repositioning fees are included in Vessel charter revenues and are recognized at the end of the charter when the fee becomes fixed and determinable. However, where there is a fixed amount specified in the charter, which is not dependent upon redelivery location, the fee will be recognized evenly over the term of the charter.

Costs directly associated with the execution of the lease or costs incurred after lease inception but prior to the commencement of the lease that directly relate to preparing the asset for the contract are capitalized and amortized in Vessel operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) over the lease term.

Our LNG carriers may participate in a LNG carrier pool collaborative arrangement with Golar LNG Limited, referred to as the Cool Pool. The Cool Pool allows the pool participants to optimize the operation of the pool vessels through improved scheduling ability, cost efficiencies and common marketing. Under the Pool Agreement, the Pool Manager is responsible, as agent, for the marketing and chartering of the participating vessels and paying certain voyage costs such as port call expenses and brokers’ commissions in relation to employment contracts, with each of the pool participants continuing to be fully responsible for fulfilling the performance obligations in the contract.

We are primarily responsible for fulfilling the performance obligations in the time charters of vessels owned by the Company, and we are the principal in such time charters. Revenue and expenses for charters of our vessels that participate in the Cool Pool are presented on a gross basis within Vessel charter revenues and Vessel operating expenses, respectively, in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Our allocation of our share of the net revenues earned from the other pool participants’ vessels, which may be either income or expense depending on the results of all pool participants, is reflected on a net basis within Vessel operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also significantly impacted energy markets, and the price of oil traded at historic low prices in 2020. Future expansion of our business is dependent upon LNG being a competitive source of energy and available at a lower cost than the cost to deliver other alternative energy sources, such as diesel or other distillate fuels. Although LNG is currently trading at historical high prices, we believe that over the long-term LNG and natural gas will remain a competitive fuel source for customers.

For our PSUs, we reassess the probability of the achievement of the performance metric each reporting period to estimate the amount of shares that will vest. Any increase or decrease in share-based compensation expense resulting from an adjustment in the estimated vesting is treated as a cumulative catch-up in the period of adjustment. Our estimate of whether the performance metric will be met is impacted by the timing of our development projects becoming operational and our ability to achieve the expected results of operations, execution of definitive agreements for new projects, costs of LNG and our ability to execute sale of LNG cargos at favorable pricing and facilitate delivery of these cargos during periods of significant volatility in LNG prices. If any of the assumptions or estimates used change significantly, share-based compensation expense may differ materially from what we have recorded in the current period.

We evaluate each purchase transaction to determine whether the acquired assets meet the definition of a business. If substantially all of the fair value of gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or group of similar identifiable assets, then the set of transferred assets and activities is not a business. If not, for an acquisition to be considered a business, it would have to include an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs. A substantive process is not ancillary or minor, cannot be replaced without significant costs, effort or delay or is otherwise considered unique or scarce. To qualify as a business without outputs, the acquired assets would require an organized workforce with the necessary skills, knowledge and experience that performs a substantive process.

For acquisitions that are not deemed to be businesses, the assets acquired are recognized based on their cost to us as the acquirer, and no gain or loss is recognized. The cost of assets acquired in a group is allocated to individual assets within the group based on their relative fair values and no goodwill is recognized. Transaction costs related to acquisition of assets are included in the cost basis of the assets acquired.

We account for acquisitions that qualify as business combinations by applying the acquisition method. Transaction costs related to the acquisition of a business are expensed as incurred and excluded from the fair value of consideration transferred. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interests in an acquired entity are recognized and measured at their estimated fair values. The excess of the fair value of consideration transferred over the fair values of identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interests in an acquired entity, net of fair value of any previously held interest in the acquired entity, is recorded as goodwill.

The Company performs valuations of assets acquired, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interests in an acquired entity and allocates the purchase price to its respective assets, liabilities and noncontrolling interests. Determining the fair value of assets acquired, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interests in an acquired entity requires management to use significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of appropriate valuation methodologies, vessel market day rates, and discount rates. The Company estimated the fair value of the vessels acquired in the Mergers using a combination of the income approach and the cost approach, which determines the replacement costs for the vessel assets, adjusting for age and condition. Management’s estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable. As a result, actual results may differ from these estimates. During the measurement period, the Company may record adjustments to acquired assets, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interests, with corresponding offsets to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of a measurement period, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to earnings.

We use estimates, assumptions and judgments when assessing the recoverability of goodwill.  We test for impairment on an annual basis, or more frequently if a significant event of circumstance indicates the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. The assessment of goodwill for impairment may initially be performed based on qualitative factors to determine if it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit to which the goodwill is assigned is less than the carrying value.  If so, a quantitative assessment is performed to determine if an impairment has occurred and to measure the impairment loss.

We completed our annual goodwill impairment evaluation using a qualitative analysis assessment during the fourth quarter of 2021. Under the qualitative assessment, we consider several qualitative factors, including macroeconomic conditions (including changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates), industry and market considerations (including demand for cleaner energy sources and the market price for LNG), the recent and projected financial performance of the reporting unit, as well as other factors.

Recent Accounting Standards

For descriptions of recently issued accounting standards, refer to “Note 3. Adoption of new and revised standards” of our notes to consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

In the normal course of business, the Company encounters several significant types of market risks including commodity and interest rate risks.

Commodity Price Risk

Commodity price risk is the risk of loss arising from adverse changes in market rates and prices. We are able to limit our exposure to fluctuations in natural gas prices as our pricing in contracts with customers is largely based on the Henry Hub index price plus a contractual spread. Our exposure to market risk associated with LNG price changes may adversely impact our business. We do not currently have any derivative arrangements to protect against fluctuations in commodity prices, but to mitigate the effect of fluctuations in LNG prices on our operations, we may enter into various derivative instruments.

Interest Rate Risk

The 2025 Notes and 2026 Notes were issued with a fixed rate of interest, and as such, a change in interest rates would impact the fair value of the 2025 Notes and 2026 Notes but such a change would have no impact on our results of operations or cash flows. A 100-basis point increase or decrease in the market interest rate would decrease or increase the fair value of our fixed rate debt by approximately $102 million. The sensitivity analysis presented is based on certain simplifying assumptions, including instantaneous change in interest rate and parallel shifts in the yield curve.

As a result of the Mergers, we assumed the Debenture Loan and a cross-currency interest rate swap to protect against adverse movements in interest rates of the Debenture Loan. We also acquired an interest rate swap to manage the exposure to adverse movements in interest rates of debt held by our equity method investee, Hilli LLC, but we do not currently have any derivative arrangements to protect against fluctuations in interest rates applicable to our other outstanding indebtedness.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

After the completion of the Hygo Merger, we began to have more significant transactions, assets and liabilities denominated in Brazilian reais; our Brazilian subsidiaries and investments receive income and pays expenses in Brazilian reais. A portion of our exposure to exchange rates is economically hedged by a cross-currency interest rate swap. Based on our Brazilian reais revenues and expenses for the period since the completion of the Hygo Merger, a 10% depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Brazilian reais would not significantly decrease our revenue or expenses. As our operations expand in Brazil, our results of operations will be exposed to changes in fluctuations in the Brazilian real, which may materially impact our results of operations.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

In accordance with Rules 13a-15(b) of the Exchange Act, we have evaluated, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2021. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure and is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. Based upon that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2021 at the reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting