At a glance
- Client: A heat exchanger supplier
- Sector: Industrial equipment for oil, gas and hydrogen
- Region: Global and Middle East & North Africa
- Service: Market research
The challenge
A heat exchanger supplier wanted market evidence to sell printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) to oil, gas, petrochemical and hydrogen operators in the Middle East and North Africa. It needed to know how big the market is, who supplies, designs, services and buys these units in the region, how the leading international makers compete, and what it would take to win business.
What we did
- Sized the global PCHE market and its regional and end-use split from published market research reports.
- Set PCHE demand against regional oil output and planned refining capacity expansion across MENA.
- Mapped the ecosystem: international PCHE makers, local heat exchanger makers, buyers, service providers and design consultancies.
- Compared PCHE and shell-and-tube material costs to explain why local makers stay with conventional exchangers.
- Profiled the top three international players on overview, strengths and business model.
- Listed major MENA end users with the plants and projects that could need PCHEs, covering LNG, gas processing, refining and petrochemicals.
- Drew market-entry takeaways on routes to the buyer, positioning, after-sales support and vendor approvals.
What we delivered
A 12-slide market overview deck and a supporting data sheet.
Market overview deck
Slide deck · 12 slides
- Heat exchanger market landscape overview
- PCHE market landscape, global and MENA
- PCHE ecosystem: manufacturers, buyers, service providers, designers
- Competitive landscape of the top three players
- End-user details and plant locations across MENA
- Key takeaways
Supporting data sheet
Spreadsheet · 1 sheet
- Global PCHE market share by region, with source
What we found
- The MENA region is shifting from brazed aluminium heat exchangers to PCHEs, driven by the need for higher efficiency in oil and gas and hydrogen applications.
- PCHE supply in MENA is dominated by international makers, while local companies focus on conventional exchangers because PCHE materials cost far more per kilogram than shell-and-tube.
- To win business, a supplier must engage directly with EPC contractors, national oil companies and the plant operators who control procurement, and work through local distributors and engineering firms with ASME and API-certified service capability.
- After-sales support is the market leader's key strength, so a regional service hub or certified local maintenance partner and a spare-parts stock in the Gulf are needed to be credible.
- National vendor approvals and in-country value certifications in the main Gulf markets are a precondition for being eligible to supply.
In numbers
- The global PCHE market was worth about US$654 million in 2023 and is projected to reach US$1,118 million by 2033, a CAGR of 5.5%.
- Hydrocarbon processing held 37.3% of the PCHE market in 2023.
- In 2023 the Middle East produced about 30.4 million barrels of oil a day, 31.5% of global output.
- MENA aims to raise crude processing capacity to 9.7 million barrels a day by 2025.
- PCHEs can be up to 85% smaller and lighter than shell-and-tube exchangers.
- Middle East and Africa accounted for 4.5% (US$54 million) of the global PCHE market in 2023, and shell-and-tube units still held 51.6% of the region's heat exchanger market in 2022.