Worldwide Coriolis flowmeter market to grow 12%pa

The worldwide market for Coriolis flowmeters, driven by greater user acceptance and custody transfer applications in the oil and gas industries, is expected to grow at 12%pa over the next five years

The market was USD650 million in 2006 and is forecasted to be over USD1.1 billion in 2011, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Coriolis flowmeters are highly accurate, and because they are capable of mass and volumetric measurement and are available with OIML approval, they are well suited to custody transfer applications in the booming oil and gas industries.

"Coriolis flowmeters are ideal for custody transfer applications, and will enjoy wider acceptance, particularly for loading and unloading operations at pipeline terminals and other distribution facilities," according to Analyst Allen Avery, the principal author of the ARC Report "Coriolis Flowmeter Worldwide Outlook".

Coriolis flowmeters have gained greater acceptance in the process industries.

Advantages of the technology such as no moving parts, low cost of ownership, low maintenance, no straight run requirements, and direct mass measurement, coupled with falling average selling prices contribute to users increasingly turning to Coriolis flowmeters to meet their flow measurement needs.

Most of the major field device suppliers have Coriolis meters in their flow metering product portfolio, but a large portion of the market is consolidated in the hands of only a few suppliers.

These suppliers have found success in offering a broad, multi-tiered product line that fulfills many flow applications across multiple vertical industries.

Smaller competitors find opportunities by positioning their Coriolis flowmeters in niche applications to bolster their market shares by solving the most challenging flow measurement problems faced by users.

* Two-Phase Flow.

Coriolis flowmeter technology continues to advance to expand its suitability for a wider range of flow measurement applications.

Many suppliers have made great strides in compensating for entrained gas in liquid flows, which improves measurement accuracy in such challenging flow applications.

The ability to measure two-phase flow has great value at the wellhead, in particular.

Regionally, suppliers can expect to see the largest growth in Asia, where heavy investment in new plant construction continues in core sectors such as chemical and petrochemical, oil and gas, and power.

The Middle East, due to its high concentration of oil and gas activities, will continue to be fertile ground for automation and instrumentation suppliers alike.

Europe, which is coming out of a long period of stagnation, will see heightened project activity in years to come.

North America, by contrast, is showing signs that growth will slow in coming years.

Latin America, home to several large-scale oil and natural gas projects, will see growth approaching double digits, but will remain a relatively small market for suppliers.

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