The discovery and ongoing monetization of new natural gas reserves in Africa  has created demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, which require specialized protection coatings to cushion them against corrosion, unfavorable temperatures and changing environmental conditions.

Mozambique and Tanzania have become the latest entrants in an LNG production league hitherto dominated by Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Algeria where contracts worth billions of dollars have been awarded or are in the pipeline for new liquefaction plants, gas pipelines, LNG terminals and floating liquefied natural gas vessels. These projects are some of the drivers of growth of Africa’s coatings market in coming months.

Some international coatings companies have already secured contracts for the supply of various coating solutions to protect the anticipated or existing LNG infrastructure.

Tanzania and Mozambique, with a combined natural gas reserve of more than 140 trillion cubic feet (tcf), are in the race competing for a share of the global LNG export market against the U.S., which targets to export an estimated 70tcf to Asia by 2020 and also Russia currently in the process of shifting from piped gas to LNG. The East African countries are hoping to join the LNG export market when liquefaction plants under construction are completed between 2019 and 2021.

International oil and gas companies among them UK’s BG Group, Ophir Energy, ExxonMobil, Statoil, Anadarko and Eni have found huge natural gas reserves in East Africa and have proposed huge projects to commercialize the gas findings. The infrastructure is expected to consume a substantial amount of protective coating around the huge amount of steel to be used in the development of the facilities and also on the LNG vessels so as to delay and limit the effects of fire attacks and corrosion from both the sea water and soil in case of gas pipeline.

“New natural gas discoveries in East Africa have spurred liquefaction plant proposals though considerable risks abound in this untested region,” said the report by IGU. “Prolific resource discoveries in Mozambique and Tanzania have led to the proposal of seven trains totalling 35 million metric tons/annum (MTPA) though potential exists for major expansions.”

After the discovery of 100tcf of natural gas in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin, U.S. firm Anadarko and Italy’s Eni have announced progress in the construction of four LNG trains with a capacity of 20 million metric tons per a year, making it the largest LNG export plant after Qatar’s Ras Laffan according to IGU.

Anadarko and Eni have awarded front end engineering and design contract to a consortium of CB&I and Chiyoda Corporation for the liquefaction plant. The LNG plant will get supplies of natural gas from Anadarko’s offshore Area 1 gas fields including Prosperidade and Golfinho. Additional natural gas will come from Eni’s offshore Area 4 gas fields including Mamba gas fields.

The liquefaction plant will come with infrastructure requiring special coatings to protect them from high temperatures, corrosion, fire and aggressive chemical compounds. Some of the LNG plant facilities that would require substantial coatings supplies include storage tanks, open gas turbines at power generation, BoG handling, open rack vaporizer, jetty MEG (Mono Ethylene Glycol)/ water mixture regeneration and storage, slug catcher, gas pre-treatment facility, refrigerant and storage facilities, flare tower, liquefaction and fractionation installations and condensate stabilizers.

To protect these LNG facilities would require deployment of various coating processes depending on the facility and its use. Such processes could include cathodic protection, thermally sprayed aluminium and watertight insulation and cladding.
LNG tanks re
quire exterior coatings to protect them from the coastal environment and also internal tank coatings to protect the ships to be used in transporting the LNG to the international market. Concrete coatings and insulation and also concrete refurbishment provide additional opportunities for coating companies in the protective market.

A similar LNG plant was completed in 2012 in neighboring Angola under a contract by U.S. firm Bechtel. The plant, Angola LNG, located in Soyo and which was developed by a consortium of Sonangol, Chevron, BP, Total, and ENI, provided yet another opportunity for coatings contractors.

For example, German firm EUROPIPE worked on a contract awarded French energy major Total for the laying  of pipes for a pipeline project starting from Block 17, operated by the oil explorer and producer with a 40 percent interest, as part of a network supplying gas to the Angolan LNG plant.

EUROPIPE, which says it specializes in large-diameter welded steel pipes for extreme applications,  has supplied nearly 20,000 tons of pipe for the $9 billion LNG project, from its manufacturing line at Mülheim mill. Mulheim Pipecoatings provided the inside and protective outside coatings for the pipes linking natural gas fields to the Angolan LNG plant.

And in Mozambique, Italian natural gas producer Eni’s affiliate, Eni East Africa SpA,  announced in October it has awarded the KD Consortium, consisting of KBR and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company, Ltd, a front end engineering design (FEED) contract for the country’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility for the Coral South Development Project in the country.

The company said with the award, “the KD consortium will be one of three consortia competing for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract to build the new floating LNG facility for Eni East Africa and its partners to develop the hydrocarbon discovery in the Rovuma Basin in Mozambique.”

“Developing a cost-effective solution for the first FLNG vessel in Mozambique was the rationale for developing the KD consortium,” said Stuart Bradie, KBR president and CEO. “The consortium allows us to leverage the strength of both companies to provide the client the best choice for the EPCIC portion of the project.”

The KD Consortium will provide the FEED for the Topsides, Hull and Subsea for the Floating LNG facility. The Topsides and Turret are being designed in KBR’s Leatherhead office while the hull and marine system are being engineered in DSME’s facility in Seoul, South Korea, KBR said in a statement.

The FLNG facility will be a turret moored double-hull floating vessel, on which gas receiving, processing, liquefaction, and offloading facilities will be mounted together with LNG and condensate storage.

Although it has not been confirmed which company will be contracted to provide protective coatings for the new FLNG, the development of the vessel adds to a new a growing segment in Africa’s gas sub sector.
A few international coating companies have benefitted from Africa’s growing natural gas sub sector and have been involved in major coating contracts.

For example, UK’s Promat was contracted by heavy equipment manufacturer IHI Group, which won a contract to develop a new LNG train by Algeria’s Sonatrach, to supply its Cafco FENDOLITE MII system as a primary part of the scheme to protect the LNG facility near Arzew city.

The capacity of the Arzew GL2-Z, which has a design capacity of 370.8 billion cubic feet/year, is being expanded to meet the increasing world demand for natural gas supplies.

According to Promat, “Cafco FENDOLITE MII is the industry-leading, passive fire protection system and has been used to protect steel structures and vessel skirts from fire attack at Arzew.”

The more than 1,500 tons of Cafco FENDOLITE MII was used on the project and applied by the Franco-Algerian fire protection specialists Travomed– Prezioso JV according to a statement by Promat.

“Promat was selected to supply Cafco FENDOLITE MII for this project because they provide unequalled service, quality, fitness for purpose, whole life value and availability that has been demonstrated in service worldwide over 30 years,” the company said in a statement.

In Nigeria, leading manufacturer, developer and distributor of paints and coatings, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, has been awarded a contract to supply coatings for two new Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) carriers to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea. The Berger Paints contract is for the supply of 83,000 litres of paint valued at $1 million.

“Berger Paints products are in compliance with global standards and are at par with those produced by KCC in Korea, which will be used by Hyundai Heavy Industries in the coating of two new NLNG vessels,” said Henry Agbodjan, head of shipping at NLNG in early December. KCC Corporation is a partner of Berger Paints Nigeria Plc.

More Nigerian paints firms have also got a share of the slice of the project to supply six LNG vessels to NLNG.

Bonny Gas Transport (BGT) Limited, a subsidiary of NLNG awarded a contract for the building of the new vessels to South Korean shipbuilders, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Heavy Industries. The contract provided a local content clause for Nigerian companies to participate in exporting materials including protective coatings for the project.

NLNG had earlier confirmed that Paints and Coatings Manufacturers Nigeria (PCMN) Limited had also been picked to supply up to 388,000 liters of paint to Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.

Other material suppliers for the LNG vessels include Metec West Africa, which has exported 210 tonnes of anodes, valued at $2.5 million and Nexans Kabelmetal Limited, which shipped 180,000 meters of cables valued at more than $1 million to the South Korean shipyards.

“By the end of this project, NLNG would have helped the concerned local companies acquire the necessary capacity and know how to successfully compete with peers from all around the developed world,” said NLNG.

“In the past, Berger Paints only exported paints to Ghana. This recent export of our products to South Korea is a major milestone for our company, and we are very excited for this remarkable opportunity,” said Berger Paints’ managing director and chief executive officer, Tor Nygard.

The International Gas Union says LNG floating systems “are proposed to be used in many more countries, including several in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

“Although many challenges face the development of LNG infrastructure, the speed and relatively lower cost of bringing a floating import terminal online may improve the outlook for these regions,” said IGU in its 2014 LNG report.