MEA Hazardous Location Motor Starters Market Size

MEA Hazardous Location Motor Starters Market Analysis

The Middle East and African hazardous location motor starters market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast period, primarily due to the significant offshore oil and gas developments, new oil discoveries, an increasing focus on deepwater drilling activities, and rising water and wastewater expenditures. In February this year, Adnoc Drilling planned GCC expansion as oil and gas activity increased in the United Arab Emirates.

Hazardous location motors are intended to enhance workplace safety by containing explosions within the motor. Different motors are used to meet the needs of various settings and applications. Class I motors are used for settings affecting gases, vapors, or liquids. Class II motors are intended for areas containing dust, flammable lint, or fibers, such as textiles and sawdust.

Growing demand for instruments for protection against thermal overload drives the market, as instantaneous over-current is usually the result of fault conditions. Bimetallic overload relays and time overcurrent relays are the motor protection relay used in high voltage areas and provide various features, such as short circuit protection, locked rotor protection, and many more.

Regional mergers and acquisitions have led to enormous drilling and exploration activities in hazardous locations, further boosting the region's demand for motors and motor starters. For instance, in December last year, ADNOC Drilling Co., a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's national oil company ADNOC, signed a deal to acquire two offshore drilling rigs for a combined cost of USD 200 million. The acquisition is part of the company's fleet expansion and growth strategy. This rig purchase adds to the company's earlier deals for nine rigs signed last year and four rigs acquired in 2021. The company wants to operate a total fleet of 122 owned rigs by 2024.

In addition, in May last year, ADNOC announced three oil discoveries, including one at Bu Hasa, Abu Dhabi's most extensive onshore field, with a crude oil production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).

According to the US Energy Information Administration 2021, Saudi Arabia holds 15% of the world's proven crude oil reserves. It is the world's largest crude oil exporter. It has about 12 million barrels per day of crude oil production capacity, including capacity from the Neutral Zone, which it shares with Kuwait. After the United States, Saudi Arabia is OPEC's largest crude oil producer and the world's second-largest producer of total petroleum liquids.

The region constantly discovers fresh oil and gas wells while existing and underutilized ones renew. For instance, the government-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. recently announced a significant rig fleet evolution program that desired to add dozens of rigs by 2025. In January last year's report by Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation, energy investments in the Middle East and Africa are anticipated to increase by 9% over the next five years to more than USD 879 billion as energy exporters raise spending amid higher oil revenue.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed several challenges to the market, like supply chain disruptions and increased raw material prices. The market is expected to grow during the forecast period with the growth of many industries across the region, such as oil and gas.