Offshore system for vaporizing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream, method of providing such a system, and method of vaporizing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream

摘要

An offshore system and method for vaporizing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream, such as a liquefied natural gas stream is provided. A structure provided with a storage tank (4) for a load of liquefied hydrocarbon, an offloading system (6) in communication with the storage tank (4) for receiving a stream of the liquefied hydrocarbon (8) from an auxiliary carrier (10), vaporization equipment (7, 12, 13, 14, 15) in communication with the storage tank (4), and a ballast storage area (2,2a). The ballast storage area (2, 2a) is charged with a ballast material having a specific gravity equal to or higher than that of water. The amount of ballast material being charged is sufficient to keep the carrier grounded on the bottom of a body of water (41) in a condition that the storage tank (4) does not contain any liquefied hydrocarbon. The structure is selected to be an existing liquefied hydrocarbon carrier (1).