Patent ID: 6945049

Claim:
A method for regasification of liquid natural gas (LNG) aboard a floating carrier vessel before the LNG is offloaded as a gas, said method comprising: boosting the LNG pressure and flowing said LNG into an LNG/coolant heat exchanger ( 230 ) in which the LNG is evaporated; flowing evaporated natural gas (NG) into an NG/steam heat exchanger ( 120 ), in which the NG is heated before the NG is transferred to shore as superheated vapor; evaporating the LNG in said LNG/coolant heat exchanger ( 230 ) by thermal exchange against a coolant entering said heat exchanger as a gas and leaving said heat exchanger in a liquefied state; and flowing said coolant in a closed coolant circuit including a valve ( 225 ), and through at least one coolant/seawater heat exchanger ( 220 a , 220 b ) in which the liquefied coolant is evaporated before entering the LNG/coolant heat exchanger, and wherein the pressure in the evaporated coolant is controlled by the valve ( 225 ).