Shem Oriere, Africa Correspondent04.17.24
The discovery of hydrocarbon resources in East Africa has necessitated the construction of new oil and gas transportation infrastructure, hence creating new opportunities for the supply of pipeline coatings in the region.
Major oil and gas discoveries have been announced in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Uganda, turning the region into one of Africa’s top exploration hotspots that is attracting key upstream and downstream oil and gas companies eager to invest in operations, especially the construction, operation and maintenance of pipeline infrastructure.
For instance, Tanzania and Uganda are constructing what has been billed as the world's longest heated crude oil pipeline. The 1443km crude oil pipeline will carry oil from Uganda to the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania and has already attracted notable developments in the region’s coatings market.
Construction of the 24-inch-diameter, insulated, electrically trace heated, buried pipeline from Kabaale, Hoima district in Uganda to the Chongoleani Peninsula near Tanga Port in Tanzania, has attracted a new player in East Africa’s coatings market, Wah Seong Corporation Berhad (Wasco), an international Malaysian Energy Solutions Services and Industrial Services group.
Wasco’s Italy-based affiliate Wasco Isoaf Srl, through its recently unveiled affiliate Wasco Isoaf Tanzania, was previously picked as the preferred contractor for the provision of line pipe thermal insulation services for the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline project as well as the feeder line located between the town of Kabaale in Uganda and port of Tanga in Tanzania.
The contract, which was awarded by the joint venture company that is developing the pipeline project, East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Ltd, is valued at US$254 million and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Wasco Isoaf and Wasco Isoaf Tanzania Ltd’s works include the construction of and mobilisation of thermal insulation coatings plant as well as the provision of line pipe coating services.
EACOP Ltd, the pipeline developer, picked polyurethane foam as the best insulation type “as it offers the highest thermal efficiency with lowest capital expenditure.”
Earlier, EACOP Ltd had confirmed Wasco Isoaf did receive line pipes from the port of Dar es Salaam for the pre-production test prior to the crude pipeline’s coating process.
The 18-meter-long pipes were transported to the coating yard in Tanzania for the installation of the thermal insulation and external protective coating.
The insulated pipes were then expected to be transported from the coating yard to the main camps and pipe yards (MCPYs) along the project route.
From the MCPYs, the pipeline will then be strung out along the cleared right of way where they will be strung and welded prior to “the in field final coating and insulation is applied at the site of each weld before the welded pipeline will be lowered in a pre-dug trench” according to EACOP.
EACOP Ltd says the pipeline, 80% of it to be laid in Tanzania, “will be buried, thermally insulated with polyurethane foam and electrical heat tracing will be installed for the entire pipeline length.”
“For precautionary purposes, the pipeline is specified with a fusion-bonded epoxy anticorrosion coating applied to protect the pipe over the course of its operational life against external corrosion,” says EACOP Ltd, which is spearheaded by Martin Tiffen as managing director.
“This fusion-bonded epoxy coating will act as a second barrier in case of water ingress below the bonded thermal insulation system,” the company adds.
Moreover, EACOP Ltd says, additional corrosion control would be provided through implementation of cathodic protection measures.
In March 2024, EACOP Ltd unveiled a new coating factory in Tanzania to support the thermal insulation and coatings of all pipes used in the project, nearly all of them imported from China.
The new plant will apply thermal insulation to all 86,000-line pipe joints prior to their dispatch and installation along the project route in both countries.
“We are pleased to mark the commissioning of the thermal insulation workshop, which is a key milestone on our journey to construct the infrastructure that will safely transport the oil from Uganda’s Lake Albert region to international markets,” said Tiffen at the launch of the thermal insulation plant in March.
“The thermal insulation plant embodies our commitment to safety, operational excellence and sustainability, combining talents from Tanzania and internationally, and creating employment and up-skilling opportunities both nationally and for communities in the vicinity,” he added.
In the long term, consumption of pipeline coatings is expected to continue, especially in countries with pending oil and gas pipeline projects including Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique.
For instance, Tanzania, which has confirmed natural gas reserves of approximately 57.5 trillion cubic feet, more than 47 trillion cubic feet of it found in offshore fields, has 551km onshore natural gas pipeline connecting the Madimba – Mtwara pipeline to the Tegeta – Dar es Salaam section. This pipeline is expected to be extended to Kenya in the future, opening yet another opportunity for supply and use of pipeline coatings.
The planned 600km pipeline, estimated to cost US$1.1 billion, is expected to help Kenya reduce the cost of energy as well as expand the pipeline transportation market, a key driver in the consumption of pipeline coatings.
Kenya is also planning its own pipeline from the coastal port town of Lamu to Lokichar, where the UK’s oil explorer Tullow Oil Plc discovered huge oil reserves.
Elsewhere in neighboring South Sudan, the government has signed memorandums of understanding with Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti for a possible pipeline to connect its oil fields to either Lamu port or port of Djibouti, according to market analyst KPMG.
Separately, Djibouti and Ethiopia have expressed interest in a joint gas project that would include construction of a gas pipeline for evacuating gas from Ethiopian fields to the global market.
These projects, should they come to fruition, will boost thermal insulation and pipeline coatings in general in Eastern Africa as the region looks into the future as one of Africa’s oil and gas producers.
Meanwhile, with the EACOP project coming under intense international scrutiny because of alleged adverse environmental impacts as well as human rights violations and the pipeline coatings market in the region is expected to shift more towards more sustainable and eco-friendly coatings as countries developing the pipelines endeavor to adhere to international environmental regulations.
Major oil and gas discoveries have been announced in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Uganda, turning the region into one of Africa’s top exploration hotspots that is attracting key upstream and downstream oil and gas companies eager to invest in operations, especially the construction, operation and maintenance of pipeline infrastructure.
For instance, Tanzania and Uganda are constructing what has been billed as the world's longest heated crude oil pipeline. The 1443km crude oil pipeline will carry oil from Uganda to the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania and has already attracted notable developments in the region’s coatings market.
Construction of the 24-inch-diameter, insulated, electrically trace heated, buried pipeline from Kabaale, Hoima district in Uganda to the Chongoleani Peninsula near Tanga Port in Tanzania, has attracted a new player in East Africa’s coatings market, Wah Seong Corporation Berhad (Wasco), an international Malaysian Energy Solutions Services and Industrial Services group.
Wasco’s Italy-based affiliate Wasco Isoaf Srl, through its recently unveiled affiliate Wasco Isoaf Tanzania, was previously picked as the preferred contractor for the provision of line pipe thermal insulation services for the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline project as well as the feeder line located between the town of Kabaale in Uganda and port of Tanga in Tanzania.
The contract, which was awarded by the joint venture company that is developing the pipeline project, East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Ltd, is valued at US$254 million and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Wasco Isoaf and Wasco Isoaf Tanzania Ltd’s works include the construction of and mobilisation of thermal insulation coatings plant as well as the provision of line pipe coating services.
EACOP Ltd, the pipeline developer, picked polyurethane foam as the best insulation type “as it offers the highest thermal efficiency with lowest capital expenditure.”
Earlier, EACOP Ltd had confirmed Wasco Isoaf did receive line pipes from the port of Dar es Salaam for the pre-production test prior to the crude pipeline’s coating process.
The 18-meter-long pipes were transported to the coating yard in Tanzania for the installation of the thermal insulation and external protective coating.
The insulated pipes were then expected to be transported from the coating yard to the main camps and pipe yards (MCPYs) along the project route.
From the MCPYs, the pipeline will then be strung out along the cleared right of way where they will be strung and welded prior to “the in field final coating and insulation is applied at the site of each weld before the welded pipeline will be lowered in a pre-dug trench” according to EACOP.
EACOP Ltd says the pipeline, 80% of it to be laid in Tanzania, “will be buried, thermally insulated with polyurethane foam and electrical heat tracing will be installed for the entire pipeline length.”
“For precautionary purposes, the pipeline is specified with a fusion-bonded epoxy anticorrosion coating applied to protect the pipe over the course of its operational life against external corrosion,” says EACOP Ltd, which is spearheaded by Martin Tiffen as managing director.
“This fusion-bonded epoxy coating will act as a second barrier in case of water ingress below the bonded thermal insulation system,” the company adds.
Moreover, EACOP Ltd says, additional corrosion control would be provided through implementation of cathodic protection measures.
In March 2024, EACOP Ltd unveiled a new coating factory in Tanzania to support the thermal insulation and coatings of all pipes used in the project, nearly all of them imported from China.
The new plant will apply thermal insulation to all 86,000-line pipe joints prior to their dispatch and installation along the project route in both countries.
“We are pleased to mark the commissioning of the thermal insulation workshop, which is a key milestone on our journey to construct the infrastructure that will safely transport the oil from Uganda’s Lake Albert region to international markets,” said Tiffen at the launch of the thermal insulation plant in March.
“The thermal insulation plant embodies our commitment to safety, operational excellence and sustainability, combining talents from Tanzania and internationally, and creating employment and up-skilling opportunities both nationally and for communities in the vicinity,” he added.
In the long term, consumption of pipeline coatings is expected to continue, especially in countries with pending oil and gas pipeline projects including Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique.
For instance, Tanzania, which has confirmed natural gas reserves of approximately 57.5 trillion cubic feet, more than 47 trillion cubic feet of it found in offshore fields, has 551km onshore natural gas pipeline connecting the Madimba – Mtwara pipeline to the Tegeta – Dar es Salaam section. This pipeline is expected to be extended to Kenya in the future, opening yet another opportunity for supply and use of pipeline coatings.
The planned 600km pipeline, estimated to cost US$1.1 billion, is expected to help Kenya reduce the cost of energy as well as expand the pipeline transportation market, a key driver in the consumption of pipeline coatings.
Kenya is also planning its own pipeline from the coastal port town of Lamu to Lokichar, where the UK’s oil explorer Tullow Oil Plc discovered huge oil reserves.
Elsewhere in neighboring South Sudan, the government has signed memorandums of understanding with Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti for a possible pipeline to connect its oil fields to either Lamu port or port of Djibouti, according to market analyst KPMG.
Separately, Djibouti and Ethiopia have expressed interest in a joint gas project that would include construction of a gas pipeline for evacuating gas from Ethiopian fields to the global market.
These projects, should they come to fruition, will boost thermal insulation and pipeline coatings in general in Eastern Africa as the region looks into the future as one of Africa’s oil and gas producers.
Meanwhile, with the EACOP project coming under intense international scrutiny because of alleged adverse environmental impacts as well as human rights violations and the pipeline coatings market in the region is expected to shift more towards more sustainable and eco-friendly coatings as countries developing the pipelines endeavor to adhere to international environmental regulations.
