Pipe Coatings Market
Offers Growth Opportunities
Europe’s need for
secure energy
supplies is making
it increasingly
dependent on
imported natural
gas, which is a big
boost to companies
producing coatings
and their raw
materials for steel
pipelines.
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodpub.com
By 2030 around 70 percent of the Europe’s energy requirements is predicted to come from abundant reserves of gas in Russia,
the Artic and the neighboring areas of southeast
Asia and North Africa. Also to the European
Union’s 27 member states, gas has the added attraction of having lower CO2 emissions than
other fossil fuels so it will help the EU fulfil its
commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.
To supply this gas to the densely populated
areas of Western Europe long-distance steel
pipelines covered externally and internally
with large quantities of anti-corrosion coatings
are having to be built. In addition increasingly
sophisticated coatings are required for piping
for the production of gas, as well as oil, from
deep reservoirs in the North Sea, Siberia and
the Artic.
The first phase of a € 7. 4 billion ($10.4 bil-
lion), 1,224-kilometer gas pipeline, called Nord
Stream, from Russia under the Baltic Sea to
northwest Europe was completed earlier this
year with the second and final phase due to be
finished in late 2012.
20 | Coatings World
www.coatingsworld.com
June 2011
