KR102541670B1 - Regasification terminals and how to operate these regasification terminals - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of operating a regasification terminal, said method comprising: a) obtaining a re-gas stream (10) of LNG from one or more LNG storage tanks (1), b) a re-gas stream ( 10) to a regasifier unit (20), c) receiving a feed stream (40) of pressurized LNG, d) a cooling stream (11) comprising at least a portion of the re-gas stream (10). e) transforming the feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG at the second pressure by expanding the feed stream 40 and cooling the feed stream 40 relative to the cooling stream 11 into a processed process comprising LNG. processing into a feed stream (43), f) passing the processed feed stream (43) into at least one of the LNG storage tanks (1).

Description

Regasification terminals and how to operate these regasification terminals

The present invention relates to a regasification terminal and a method of operating such a regasification terminal.

Natural gas is a useful fuel source. However, they are often produced relatively far from the market. In such cases, it may be desirable to liquefy the natural gas in an LNG plant at or near the source of the natural gas stream. In LNG form, natural gas can be stored and transported over long distances more easily than in gaseous form, as it occupies less volume.

LNG is transported by a suitable LNG carrier vessel to a regasification terminal (also referred to as a revaporizing terminal or import terminal), where it is connected to the gas grid. It is re-vaporised before being fed. At the regasification terminal, the cold present in the LNG is usually conveyed to the surroundings via cooling air or cooling water.

To re-vaporize the LNG, heat may be added to the LNG. Before adding heat, LNG is often pressurized to meet the requirements of the gas grid. Typically, the gas grid has a pressure greater than 60 bar, for example 80 bar. The re-steamed natural gas product can then be sold to consumers, suitably via the gas grid.

Regasification terminals and methods for regasifying LNG are known in the art and are described, for example, in published patent applications US2010/0000233, US2006/0242969.

WO2008012286, WO2013186271, WO2013186277 and WO2013186275 describe devices and methods for heating liquefied streams. These documents are particularly focused on heat exchangers for transferring heat from an ambient to a liquefied stream by circulating a heat transfer fluid through a circuit from a first heat transfer zone to a second heat transfer zone.

LNG can be produced, transported and stored at different pressures and associated temperatures. It will be appreciated that the exact combination of pressure and temperature (boiling point) that will liquefy natural gas will depend on the exact composition of the natural gas.

Atmospheric LNG is produced at pressures close to atmospheric pressure and consequently at temperatures close to -162°C. Atmospheric LNG requires relatively high cooling effort, but has the advantage that LNG can be transported and stored under atmospheric pressure, minimizing safety risks and reducing the cost of storage tanks used for transport and storage.

Pressurized LNG (also referred to as refrigerated compressed LNG (ccLNG)) is produced at a pressure above atmospheric pressure and at a temperature equal to the boiling point of natural gas, the exact number depending on the composition of the natural gas. The pressure of the pressurized LNG may be greater than 2 bar or at least greater than 5 bar. For example, pressurized LNG can be produced at a pressure of 15 to 17 bar at a temperature of approximately -115 °C. Pressurized LNG has the advantage that less cooling effort is required and therefore less energy-consuming to produce.

EP2442056 describes a method for producing pressurized liquefied natural gas (PLNG) and a production system therefor.

However, transport and storage of pressurized LNG requires additional safety measures, since the tank must be reinforced to withstand the elevated pressure, and the storage tank (pressurized vessel) is relatively more expensive and difficult to manufacture. CA2550469 provides an example of a fiber reinforced plastic pressure vessel for holding pressurized and liquefied natural gas.

It is an object to provide improved integration of pressurized LNG with a regasification terminal that reduces at least some of the safety risks associated with the pressurized LNG value chain.

The present invention is a method of operating a regasification terminal,

a) obtaining a re-gas stream of LNG from one or more LNG storage tanks, the one or more storage tanks having a first pressure;

b) passing the ash-gas stream through a regasifier unit to obtain a regasified natural gas stream;

c) receiving a feed stream of pressurized LNG at a second pressure, the second pressure being higher than the first pressure;

d) generating a cooling stream comprising at least a portion of the ash-gas stream;

e) processing a feed stream of pressurized LNG at a second pressure into a processed feed stream by e1) expanding the feed stream and e2) cooling the feed stream relative to the cooling stream;

f) advancing the processed feed stream to at least one of the LNG storage tanks.

The cooling stream may include the complete re-gas stream or a portion thereof, ie a side-stream thereof.

e1) and e2) may be performed in any suitable order, including concurrently. e1) and/or e2) may also be performed in one or more stages, where the different stages may be performed in any suitable order. For example, the feed stream can be expanded, cooled relative to the cooling stream, and subsequently further expanded.

e1) preferably comprises expansion-cooling, whereby the temperature drop is obtained by expansion, for example by advancing the feed stream through a throttle valve or expander. Expansion-cooling can occur in single or multiple JT valves or expanders.

Cooling according to e2) can take place in one or a plurality of (parallel/series) heat exchangers.

Expansion is the reduction of pressure from a second pressure to a lower pressure, typically to a first pressure, or to a pressure higher than the first pressure to form a sufficient overpressure to transport the processed stream to one of the LNG storage tanks. include Accordingly, the processed feed stream of LNG typically has a pressure that is (substantially) equal to the first pressure.

Preferably, the pressurized LNG meets the specifications of (atmospheric) LNG in terms of composition.

Preferably, the feed stream of pressurized LNG contains less than 250 ppm CO ₂ , more preferably less than 150 ppm CO ₂ and even more preferably less than 50 ppm CO ₂ (ppm = parts per million).

According to a further aspect, a regasification terminal for regasifying LNG, comprising:

- one or more LNG storage tanks with a first pressure;

- a regasifier unit comprising an inlet in fluid communication with one or more LNG storage tanks for receiving a re-gas stream of LNG, and an outlet for discharging a regasified natural gas stream;

- a regasification terminal is provided comprising a processing unit comprising a pressurized LNG inlet for receiving a feed stream of pressurized LNG at a second pressure greater than the first pressure;

The processing unit includes an expansion device and a heat exchange unit for processing the feed stream into a processed stream, the processing unit including an outlet in fluid communication with one or more LNG storage tanks;

The heat exchange unit includes an inlet for receiving a cooling stream for cooling the feed stream, the cooling stream comprising at least a portion of the re-gas stream.

The invention will be further illustrated in the following, using examples and with reference to the drawings.
1 schematically shows a first embodiment;
2 and 3 schematically depict an alternative embodiment.

In these drawings, like reference numbers will be used to refer to the same or like parts. Also, a single reference numeral will be used to identify a conduit or line, as well as a stream carried by such a line.

The present invention proposes a method and a regasification terminal in which a supply stream of pressurized LNG from a pressurized LNG carrier is received in an atmospheric regasification terminal, which stores LNG to be regasified at or near atmospheric pressure. It is designed and built to

The regasification terminal for regasifying LNG is

- one or more LNG storage tanks (1) with a first pressure;

- a regasifier unit (20) comprising an inlet in fluid communication with one or more LNG storage tanks for receiving a re-gas stream (10) of LNG, and an outlet for discharging a regasified natural gas stream (30). ,

- a processing unit (5) comprising a pressurized LNG inlet (6) for receiving a feed stream (40) of pressurized LNG at a second pressure greater than the first pressure;

The processing unit 5 comprises an expansion device 41 for processing the feed stream 40 into a processed stream 43 and a heat exchange unit 50, the processing unit 5 comprising one or more LNG storage tanks ( 1) and an outlet (7) in fluid communication with;

The heat exchange unit (50) includes an inlet for receiving a cooling stream (11) for cooling a feed stream (40), the cooling stream comprising at least a portion of the re-gas stream (10).

The cold air energy released during regasification at the regasification terminal is not wasted, but is at least partially used to cool the pressurized LNG to atmospheric LNG that can be stored in LNG storage tanks present at the atmospheric regasification terminal. By effectively using the cold air energy from the regasification process, a thermodynamically balanced process and potentially higher regasification rates can be obtained.

The term pressurized LNG (or ccLNG) is used to refer to liquid natural gas maintained at elevated pressure, meaning a pressure greater than 2 bar, preferably greater than 10 bar, and more preferably greater than 12 bar. . According to one example, the pressurized LNG may be at a pressure in the range of 15 to 17 bar. The temperature of the pressurized LNG is at its boiling temperature for a given pressure, which depends on the composition of the natural gas.

The term atmospheric LNG is used to refer to liquid natural gas that is preferably maintained at or near atmospheric or ambient pressure, preferably slightly above atmospheric or ambient pressure. The first pressure is typically in the range of 0.9 to 1.3 bar, or 1.0 to 1.3 bar. The first pressure in the storage tank 1 may be in the range of 50 to 200 mbarg or 100 to 200 mbarg.

As used in this text, the term bar is used to refer to absolute pressure, where the term barg is used to refer to a bar gauge (zero-referenced to atmospheric pressure).

It will be appreciated that the pressure of atmospheric LNG may be increased when pumped.

The feed stream of pressurized LNG is transformed into atmospheric LNG and subsequently stored in an LNG storage tank. The LNG storage tank may be a storage tank suitable for storing atmospheric LNG and need not be designed to withstand higher pressures. Accordingly, the regasification terminal can receive and process pressurized LNG without the need for a pressurized LNG storage tank.

A regas-stream of LNG is taken from the LNG storage tank and directed to a regasification unit to produce natural gas at a pressure suitable for supplying the regasified natural gas to the gas grid.

The feed stream of pressurized LNG is heat-exchanged with the regas-stream in a heat exchanger, expanding the feed stream of pressurized LNG to atmospheric pressure, thereby achieving a cooling effect, in an energy-efficient manner. transformed into atmospheric LNG.

Regasification of LNG from LNG storage tanks during times when no feed stream of pressurized LNG is present, for example during times when pressurized LNG carriers are not docked at regasification terminals and are not busy unloading pressurized LNG. The stream may be regasified in any suitable regasifier unit, for example as described in any of the following patent documents: WO2008012286, WO2013186271, WO2013186277 and WO2013186275.

When a pressurized LNG carrier is present and busy unloading, the regas-stream of LNG from the storage tank, or its side-stream, can be re-directed through a heat-exchanger, where it is a feed stream of pressurized LNG. , thereby obtaining a warmed re-gas stream, which is passed to the regasifier unit. The warmed re-gas stream can be supplied to the regasifier unit at an intermediate point since less heat is required to regasify the warmed stream.

A feed stream of pressurized LNG is supplied to a heat exchanger to be cooled against (a side-stream of) an ash-gas stream and expanded to atmospheric pressure to obtain a processed feed stream comprising LNG. The processed feed stream can go directly to the (atmospheric) LNG storage tank or a gas-liquid separator to obtain a liquid stream going to the LNG storage tank and a gaseous stream going to the LNG storage tank through a re-liquefaction unit. can proceed with

Expansion can occur either upstream or downstream of the heat exchanger.

The proposed method and regas terminal have the advantage that no additional safety measures or reinforced hardware are required to process and store the pressurized LNG other than piping to the point where the pressure of the pressurized LNG is reduced to the first pressure. The re-gas terminal can receive pressurized LNG in an efficient and safe manner and at the same time is suitable for receiving atmospheric LNG. Existing re-gas terminals with standby LNG storage tanks can be integrated into the pressurized LNG value chain with minimal additional equipment and plant design changes. Existing re-gas terminals suitable for processing atmospheric LNG can also be modified with minimal hardware investment to be suitable for receiving pressurized LNG.

According to one embodiment, the first pressure is in the range of 0.9 to 1.2 bar, eg ambient or atmospheric pressure, and the second pressure is greater than 2 bar, preferably greater than 5 bar, and more preferably greater than 12 bar. .

The second pressure may range from 15 to 17 bar, for example.

The ash-gas stream has a temperature equal to the boiling point of LNG at the first pressure.

The feed stream of pressurized LNG has a temperature equal to the boiling point of the pressurized LNG at the second pressure.

Embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 .

1 is a schematic representation of a regasification terminal. The regasification terminal first comprises a storage tank 1 containing LNG. An ash-gas stream (10) is obtained by using a suitable pump (2). Accordingly, the re-gas stream 10 will have a pressure higher than the first pressure.

The LNG storage tank 1 is in fluid communication with the regasifier unit 20 through an ash-gas stream conduit. Regasifier unit 20 receives the re-gas stream, produces and discharges a re-gasified natural gas stream 30, and discharges the re-gasified natural gas stream to a gas grid schematically indicated at 31. arranged to proceed.

According to an embodiment, b) is

b1) pressurizing the re-gas stream 10 to a third pressure to obtain a pressurized re-gas stream 13;

b2) warming at least a portion of the pressurized re-gas stream (13) relative to the ambient stream (22) in the re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21).

1 schematically illustrates a compressor 12 having an inlet arranged to receive an ash-gas stream 10 and an outlet for discharging a pressurized ash-gas stream 13 . The outlet 13 of the compressor 12 is in fluid communication with the inlets of one (or more) re-vaporizer heat exchangers 21 . The re-vaporizer heat exchanger comprises a first flow path between an inlet of the re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21) and an outlet of the re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21), and a second flow path between the peripheral inlet and the peripheral outlet; Accordingly, the first flow path and the second flow path allow heat to be exchanged.

The ambient stream may be a stream comprising ambient air, or a stream comprising water, for example seawater.

b1) is preferably carried out before b2), since warming to the ambient stream can be carried out more effectively at higher pressures.

The third pressure is preferably equal to the desired output pressure of the regasified natural gas stream 30, eg a gas grid pressure, typically greater than 60 bar, eg 80 bar.

The outlet of the re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21) is in fluid communication with the gas grid (31).

1 further shows a carrier vessel 60 comprising one or more pressurized LNG storage tanks 61 arranged to contain pressurized LNG. Carrier 60 is not part of the regasification terminal.

The feed stream of pressurized LNG contains less than 250 ppm CO ₂ , more preferably less than 150 ppm CO ₂ and still more preferably less than 50 ppm CO ₂ (ppm = parts per million).

The regasification terminal comprises a processing unit 5 comprising a pressurized LNG inlet 6 for receiving a feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG at a second pressure, the second pressure equal to the first pressure, i.e. higher than the pressure in the storage tank (1).

The regasification terminal is arranged to receive a feed stream 40 of LNG pressurized to a second pressure from the carrier vessel 60 . The processing unit 5 comprises an expansion device 41 and a heat exchange unit 50 for processing the feed stream 40 into a processed stream 43 .

Expansion device 41 , eg an expander (shown) or a throttle valve (not shown), is arranged to receive a feed stream of pressurized LNG through pressurized feed conduit 40 . The expander 41 has an inlet arranged to receive a feed stream of pressurized LNG at a second pressure, an outlet arranged to discharge an expanded feed stream 42, and an inlet of the heat exchange unit 50 and a fluid communicate

The heat exchange unit 50 may include one or more (parallel/series) heat exchangers. The heat exchange unit 50 includes an outlet for discharging a processed feed stream 43, which has a pressure lower than the second pressure and a temperature lower than the temperature of the feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG. The outlet of the heat exchange unit 50 is in fluid communication with the LNG storage tank 1 .

In d), a cooling stream 11 comprising at least part of the ash-gas stream 10 is obtained. The obtained cooling stream 11 preferably comprises at least a portion of the pressurized re-gas stream 13, as described in more detail below.

The cooling stream 11 and the feed stream 40 or expanded feed stream 42 of pressurized LNG may exchange heat in a heat exchange unit 50 . Since the cooling stream 11 typically has a lower temperature than the feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG or the expanded feed stream 42, the cooling stream 11 will be warmed and the feed stream of pressurized LNG 40 ) or the expanded feed stream 42 will be cooled.

According to one embodiment, e2) comprises obtaining the warmed cooling stream 14 and passing the warmed cooling stream 14 to the regasifier unit 20 .

A warmed cooling stream 14 is obtained at the outlet of the heat exchange unit 50 .

Because the warmed cooling stream 14 is warmed to the (pressurized) re-gas stream, the warming duty of the regasifier unit is reduced while maintaining a similar output rate, or the regasifier unit has a similar warming duty and Unit production rate can be increased.

According to one embodiment, the warmed cooling stream 14 is introduced into the re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 at an intermediate position.

Because the warmed cooling stream is relatively warm, it is not required to run through the entire regasifier heat exchanger. The re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 has an inlet for a pressurized re-gas stream 13' and an outlet for a re-vaporized natural gas stream 30 and an intermediate to receive a warmed cooling stream 14. It includes an inlet (23).

According to one embodiment, the re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 comprises two or more re-vaporizer sub-heat exchangers arranged in series, wherein the intermediate inlet 23 is positioned between two adjacent sub-heat exchangers. do.

Alternatively, the re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 comprises an inlet 23' for a (pressurized) re-gas stream 10/13, and a warmed cooling stream 14 is sent to the re-vaporizer heat exchanger. It proceeds to the inlet of (21). In one such embodiment, the warming duty of the re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 can be lowered, throughput can be increased, or a combination of both.

According to one embodiment, the cooling stream 11 comprises the re-gas stream 10, the side-stream of the re-gas stream 13″, in particular the pressurized re-gas stream (as obtained in b2) 13) and the remainder of the ash-gas stream 13', in particular the remainder of the pressurized ash-gas stream 13.

The side-stream 13" can be obtained by splitting a portion of the (pressurized) re-gas stream 13. The portion or flow rate of the side-stream 13" is, among other factors, the amount of pressurized LNG. It may depend on the flow rate of the feed stream 40, the temperature and pressure of the feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG, the cooling efficiency of the feed stream 40 relative to the cooling stream 11, and the like. The side-stream may be at least 10% of the re-gas stream 10, at least 25% of the re-gas stream, at least 50% or at least 75% of the re-gas stream. According to one embodiment, the side-stream is greater than 95% of the re-gas stream, or even 100% of the re-gas stream. The method may include adjusting the flow rate of the side-stream 13″ in response to one or more of these factors.

The side-stream is preferably obtained between b1) and b2). If only a portion of the pressurized re-gas stream 10 is split, the remainder of the pressurized re-gas stream 13' passes to the regasifier heat exchanger 21.

According to one embodiment, the method

g) re-combining the warmed cooling stream (14) with the remainder of the re-gas stream (13'), in particular the remainder of the pressurized re-gas stream (13).

According to one embodiment, g) takes place in the middle position of the regasifier heat exchanger 21 in the regasifier unit 20 .

Because the warmed re-gas stream is warmer than the re-gas stream obtained directly from the LNG storage tank, less effort is required to regasify this stream. Accordingly, the warmed re-gas stream can be introduced at an intermediate position in the regasifier unit, eg in the halfway of a heat exchanger where it is warmed relative to the ambient stream.

According to one embodiment shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2 , g) takes place in the regasifier unit 20 at a position upstream of the regasifier heat exchanger 21 .

The upstream location includes the inlet of the regasifier heat exchanger (21).

Alternatively, the regasifier unit can be operated at a lower capacity while maintaining the same production rate.

The processed feed stream 43 may be directed directly to at least one of the LNG storage tanks 1 as shown in FIG. 1 . The term directly is used herein to specify that no further substantial processing steps are performed between them. This may be desirable when the processed feed stream contains no gaseous fraction or contains a gaseous fraction below a predetermined threshold fraction.

Figure 3 shows an alternative implementation, where f) is

f1) separating the processed feed stream (43) into a liquid stream (45) and a gaseous stream (46) in a gas-liquid separator (44);

f2) directing the liquid stream (45) to at least one of the LNG storage tanks (1);

f3) reliquefying the gas stream 46 in a reliquefaction unit 70 to obtain a reliquefied stream 47 and passing the reliquefied stream 47 into at least one of the LNG storage tanks 1 do.

This implementation may be advantageous when the processed feed stream 43 has a relatively low liquid fraction.

The gas-liquid separator or gas-vapor separator 47 may be any suitable separator, for example a knock-out vessel, or the like.

According to one embodiment, the method

- carrying out c) to f) when the feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG is available;

- stopping c) to f) when feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG is not available.

c) to f) can be executed when a supply of pressurized LNG at the second pressure is available, and can be stopped when a supply of pressurized LNG at the second pressure is not available.

A feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG at a second pressure may be received from the carrier vessel 60 . c) to f) are only executed when a loaded carrier is present and connected to the regasification terminal. If the carrier is not connected and does not contain any pressurized LNG at the second pressure or if the carrier is not present, c) to f) are stopped and the regasification terminal is operated by simply executing a) and b) .

Accordingly, according to one embodiment, c) to f) are optional.

According to one embodiment, a)

- set the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) to the first flow rate level when c) to f) are carried out;

- when c) to f) are stopped, adjusting the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) by setting the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) to a second flow rate level, wherein the first flow rate The level is higher than the second flow rate level.

Accordingly, when the feed stream of pressurized LNG at the second pressure is received, the amount of LNG to be regasified can be increased because part of the warming duty is obtained from the pressurized LNG.

According to one embodiment, b) is

- set the warming duty of the regasifier unit to a first level when c) to f) are executed;

- adjusting the warming duty of the regasifier unit by setting the warming duty of the regasifier unit to a second level when c) to f) are stopped, wherein the second level is lower than the first level.

The warming duty can be adjusted, for example, by adjusting the flow rate of the ambient stream 22 in the re-vaporizer heat exchanger 21 .

When the feed stream of pressurized LNG at the second pressure is received, the regasifier unit can operate more efficiently and the warming duty can be lowered because a portion of the warming duty is obtained from the pressurized LNG.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be practiced in many different ways without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (14)

As a method of operating a regasification terminal,
a) obtaining a re-gas stream (10) of LNG from one or more LNG storage tanks (1), said one or more storage tanks (1) being at a first pressure, said first obtaining said re-gas stream (10), wherein the pressure is in the range of 0.9 to 1.2 bar;
b) passing the re-gas stream (10) through a regasifier unit (20) to obtain a regasified natural gas stream (30);
The method,
c) receiving a feed stream (40) of pressurized LNG at a second pressure, the second pressure being higher than the first pressure, the second pressure being greater than 2 bar;
d) generating a cooling stream (11) comprising at least a portion of the ash-gas stream (10);
e) e1) expand the feed stream (40);
e2) processing the pressurized feed stream (40) of LNG at the second pressure into a processed feed stream (43) comprising LNG by cooling the feed stream (40) with respect to the cooling stream (11). step,
f) directing the processed feed stream (43) to at least one of the LNG storage tanks (1);
wherein e2) comprises obtaining a warmed cooling stream (14) and passing the warmed cooling stream (14) to the regasifier unit (20). The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pressure is in the range of 50 to 200 mbarg and the second pressure is greater than 5 bar. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein b),
b1) pressurizing the re-gas stream (10) to a third pressure to obtain a pressurized re-gas stream (13);
b2) warming at least a portion of the pressurized re-gas stream (13) relative to the ambient stream (22) in a re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21). The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pressure is in the range of 50 to 200 mbarg and the second pressure is greater than 12 bar. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the warmed cooling stream (14) is introduced at an intermediate position in the re-vaporizer heat exchanger (21). 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cooling stream (11) divides the re-gas stream (10) into a side-stream (13") of the re-gas stream and a side-stream (13") of the re-gas stream. The method, which is created by dividing into remainders (13'). 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the method comprises g) re-combining the warmed cooling stream (14) with the remainder (13') of the re-gas stream. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein g) takes place at an intermediate position of the regasifier heat exchanger (21) in the regasifier unit (20). 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein g) takes place in the regasifier unit (20) at a position upstream of the regasifier heat exchanger (21). The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein f),
f1) separating the processed feed stream into a liquid stream (45) and a gas stream (46) in a gas-liquid separator (44);
f2) directing the liquid stream (45) to at least one of the LNG storage tanks (1);
f3) reliquefying the gas stream 46 in a reliquefaction unit 70 to obtain a reliquefied stream 47, and proceeding the reliquefied stream 47 to at least one of the LNG storage tanks 1 A method, including letting. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method,
- when a feed stream 40 of pressurized LNG is available, carrying out c) to f);
- stopping c) to f) when the feed stream (40) of pressurized LNG is not available. The method of claim 11, wherein a),
- set the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) to a first flow rate level when c) to f) are carried out;
- regulating the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) by setting the flow rate of the re-gas stream (10) to a second flow level when c) to f) are stopped;
wherein the first flow rate level is higher than the second flow rate level. The method of claim 11, wherein b),
- set the warming duty of the regasifier unit to a first level when c) to f) are executed;
- regulating the warming duty of the regasifier unit by setting the warming duty of the regasifier unit to a second level when c) to f) are stopped;
wherein the second level is lower than the first level. As a regasification terminal for regasifying LNG,
- one or more LNG storage tanks (1) at a first pressure ranging from 0.9 to 1.2 bar;
- a regasifier unit (20) comprising an inlet in fluid communication with said one or more LNG storage tanks for receiving a re-gas stream (10) of LNG, and an outlet for discharging a regasified natural gas stream (30). ,
- a processing unit (5) comprising a pressurized LNG inlet (6) for receiving a feed stream (40) of pressurized LNG at a second pressure higher than said first pressure and greater than 2 bar;
The processing unit 5 comprises an expansion device 41 for processing the feed stream 40 into a processed stream 43 and a heat exchange unit 50, the processing unit 5 comprising the at least one LNG an outlet (7) in fluid communication with the storage tank (1);
The heat exchange unit (50) includes an inlet for receiving a cooling stream (11) for cooling the feed stream (40), the cooling stream comprising at least a portion of the re-gas stream (10) ,
A warmed cooling stream (14) is obtained at the outlet of the heat exchange unit (50) and the warmed cooling stream (14) proceeds to the regasifier unit (20).

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