Africa
Africa, a major gas-to-power market in
the region.
Tanzania is also constructing a 542-ki-
lometer $1.2 billion gas pipeline linking
the gas-rich region of Mtwara in the
southern part of the country to the capital, Dar es Salaam. The project is financed
by China’s Export/Import bank. Tanzania
has an estimated 40 tcf of natural gas,
which analysts will require several kilometers of pipeline to transport to refining
plants and export terminals.
Similar projects are being planned or
undertaken in Angola and Nigeria where
international oil companies are keen on
shipping out their crude or natural gas
finds to the global market.
Kenya has also partnered with Uganda
to construct a 352-kilometer oil pipeline
linking the city of Eldoret in western
Kenya to Uganda’s capital Kampala. The
pipeline will interconnect the current
14-inch diameter pipeline from Nairobi
to Eldoret. At least 14 local and international companies have submitted bids
for the project, which is slated for completion in 2016.
Previously, analysts estimated at least
10,755 kilometers of pipelines were
planned in Africa with an estimated
1,503 kilometers already under different
phases of construction. This expansion of
pipeline network in the region has also
created opportunity for some investors to
launch construction of piping and coating manufacturing plants to meet the rising demand.
Toronto-based ShawCor’s Socotherm
pipe coating division has become the
latest entrant in the region’s pipeline
coatings market after it was awarded a
$40 million contract by Tenaris to pro-
vide pipeline coatings for the Republic
of Congo’s Moho Nord Oil Pipeline
project. The company said Moho Nord
project, in water depths of 650 meters to
1,150 meters off the coast of Republic
Congo, “will be executed primarily at
the Socotherm pipe coating facility in
Pozzallo, Italy with additional work to
be completed at Socotherm’s facilities in
Adria, Italy and Escobar, Argentina.”
ShowCor, who said 10 percent of its
land pipeline coating revenue has been
generated from pipeline replacement,
explained that the Congo contract, set
to commence this year, involves coating
approximately 165 kilometrers of 6” to
16” pipe with 3-layer polypropylene an-
ticorrosion coating, 42 kilometers of 8”
to 10” pipe with 5-layer syntactic poly-
propylene coating and 19 kilometers
of 16” pipe with 3-layer polypropylene
anticorrosion coating together with con-
crete weight coating.
Earlier, the company said: “The new,
large gas discoveries have positioned
East Africa to become a major global
LNG exporter.”
ShawCor Ltd. was formerly involved
in the supply of concrete weight coating
for 598 kilometer of pipe used in the con-
struction of West African Gas Pipeline
(WAGP) in Ghana and the expansion of
coating facilities in Nigeria.
The $35 million Nigeria contract
was executed by ShawCor Ltd.’s sub-
sidiary, Bredero Shaw Pipecoaters Ltd.
The line pipe was transported to a
Bredero Shaw project facility at Tema
in Ghana where the concrete weight
coating was applied and anodes in-
stalled. The pipeline transports gas
from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana
the demand for gas to power electricity
generation is growing.
The West African Gas Pipeline
Company Limited (WAPCo), a venture
consisting mainly of ChevronTexaco,
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), Shell and Takoradi
Power Company Limited owns the larg-
est stake in the company.
ShawCor’s subsidiary Bredero Shaw
Nigeria Ltd. said in January it is opti-
mistic about West Africa’s pipeline coat-
ings market and is moving ahead with
a coating facility in Nigeria’s Onne Oil
and Gas Free Zone.
“Due to the increasing demand for
anti-corrosion and concrete weight
coatings for offshore, swamp and
land pipeline projects, the company is
moving forward with the installation
of a new Bredero Shaw coating facil-
ity, which is part of Bredero Shaw’s
overall plan to serve the growing West
African market and expand capac-
ity for anti-corrosion and concrete
weight coatings for pipeline projects
in Nigeria and other nearby markets,”
the company said.
The demand for potable water in
Africa is yet another driver in the an-
ticipated growth in pipeline projects
in the continent. South Africa, for ex-
ample, is projected to provide one of
the largest markets for pipeline coat-
ings to protect the many kilometers of
pipe to be laid as part of the country’s
estimated at R60 billion investment
in water infrastructure over the next
three years.
The country, jointly with the tiny
neighbor of Lesotho, is constructing one
of the largest water transfer projects in
the world, the Lesotho Highlands Water
Project (LHWP).
Africa Pipe Industries (API), famous
for welded pipes used in the water and
oil and gas industries, said, “The grow-
ing water infrastructure needs in South
Africa, coupled with the intention of
the various national and provincial wa-
ter authorities to address these needs,
prompted the decision to re-enter the
market with a brand-new factory.”
API CEO John-Gordon Jansen van
Nieuwenhuizen said the company is ex-
cited with the current market prospects
in South Africa’s steel-pipe manufactur-
ing industry, which lacks capacity to meet
the “an estimated national five-year, R5-
billion ($466 million) pipeline of work
looming in the water sector.”
South Africa is also implement-
ing the R1.7 billion ($158 million)
Komati Water Augmentation Scheme,
which has a pipeline construction
component. Denmark-based Phoenix
International A/S has been awarded
the contract to supply its Bituguard
coating materials for corrosion pro-
tection of the 71. 5 kilometer Komati
Pipeline, which will be coated at Hall
Longmore (Pty) Limited. The pipeline
has a diameter ranging between 32
inches and 64 inches.
If the ongoing discoveries of crude and
natural gas, the new pipeline construction
contracts being signed and the rolling out
of water infrastructure developments
is any thing to go, then the growth of
Africa’s pipeline coating market, may
have just started. CW
