May 21, 2009 - The worldwide market for toxic and combustible gas detectors is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly four percent over the next five years. The market was $689 million in 2008 and is forecasted to be $823 million in 2013 according to a new ARC Advisory Group study. After brisk growth earlier in the decade, the market will take a brief respite as companies shift their emphasis from large capital projects to upgrading their installed base of equipment, and keeping their operational expenses as low as possible.
“Though the down economy will have a dampening effect over the short term, the need for toxic gas detectors to protect plant personnel and communities still remains,” according to Analyst Allen Avery, the principal author of ARC’s “Toxic and Combustible Gas Detectors Worldwide Outlook.”
Plant and Personnel Safety Take Center Stage
Compliance with increasingly tough safety and environmental regulations will drive investment in toxic and combustible gas detectors among oil & gas, refining, petrochemical, and mining customers. The threat of an industrial accident in the wake of the high profile explosions at BP’s Texas City refinery and the UK’s Buncefield oil storage facility in 2005 have exposed the need for better process measurements and safety warning systems. This has helped to drive the increasing adoption of reliable SIL-rated transmitters for Safety Instrumented Systems to mitigate the risk of catastrophic events. Gas detectors are on the front line of defense, warning of hazardous gas emissions well before they reach crisis levels.
As such, there will be a greater emphasis on deploying devices with greater sensitivity and coverage, and installing both open path and point detectors to complement each other in the field. Users Need Visibility, Diagnostic Capabilities Sales of smart transmitters will outpace those of conventional and low-cost devices, as users seek to utilize recent technological advances to improve visibility into plant safety and device diagnostics. There is also an increasing requirement to archive toxic gas emissions data and alarms, to meet regulatory requirements, and for potential ligation by plant employees. This will fuel demand for transmitters that incorporate powerful onboard diagnostics capabilities and use digital communication protocols.
Middle East, Asia Lead Growth Regionally, suppliers can expect to see the largest growth in the Middle East, due to its high concentration of oil & gas activities, and in Asia, where heavy investment in new plant construction continues in core sectors, such as chemical & petrochemical, oil & gas, power, and steel production. In the mature North American and Western European markets, suppliers will largely rely on replacement business. Latin America, home to several large-scale oil and natural gas projects, will see above-average growth, but will continue to be a relatively small market for toxic gas detector suppliers.
