Pipeline coating 2013 | conference report AMI’s fi fth Pipeline Coating conference brought the pipe coating


industry together in Austria earlier this year to discuss market and technical developments. Chris Smith reports


Conference focuses on growth and innovation


After a period of relatively stable year on year activity from 2007 to 2010, the global market for steel pipe coating returned to growth in value terms in 2011 and the industry is likely to see that trend continue through to 2016 and beyond driven by growth in exploitation of non-conventional reserves such as shale and tight oil and gas, according to Noru Tsalic, senior vice president at AMI Consulting and author of the company’s Steel Pipe Coating – The Global Market study. “We are predicting short term and long term growth


for this industry,” Tsalic told delegates at AMI’s fi fth Pipe- line Coating conference in Vienna, Austria, in February this year. “Unconventional sources of oil and gas will drive a lot of pipeline projects in the coming years.” Tsalic said AMI estimated the global steel pipe


coating market to be worth around €5.5bn in 2012, more than 95% of which was accounted for by the oil and gas industries (Figure 1). Concrete coatings represented the largest single application sector,


accounting for almost 40% of the total. External anti-corrosion coating made up the next largest application sector by value, followed by internal coating, thermal insulation and fi eld joint coating, he said.


Jotun divisional manager pipelines Richard Cowl said that while external pipe coating is a given today, less than 10% of pipelines are internally coated. “Flow coating is gradually picking up a head of steam but anti-corrosion is still a niche. This will grow,” he said. Cowl said major obstacles to more widespread use


of internal coatings included industry conservatism and lack of standards. “It is a relatively new industry and there are relatively few standards,” he said. Protection of welds was also identifi ed as an issue. However, Cowl said the benefi ts are clear and include minimised corrosion, reduced pressure drop, savings on steel and costly anti-corrosion alloys and lower inhibitor cost. He cited studies showing that fl ow effi ciency


May 2013 | PIPELINE COATING 41


Main image: Delegates at this year’s Pipeline Coating


conference


heard optimis- tic growth


projections for the industry


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48