Engineering for Nigeria’s energy sector: precision is non-negotiable.
Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is the backbone of the national economy, and it demands the highest standards of structural engineering. The consequences of structural failure in a petroleum plant, gas processing facility, or offshore platform are catastrophic: loss of life, environmental disaster, and the destruction of critical national infrastructure.
Masterstone Engineering Ltd. brings specialist structural engineering expertise to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Our team has direct experience in the detail engineering design of petroleum and propane gas plant foundations, demonstrated by our completed project for Highland NLG Limited at Ajaokuta, Kogi State, and we bring the same rigour to every oil and gas structural engineering commission we undertake.
Our Oil & Gas Structural Engineering Services
Gas Plant Foundation Design
Gas processing plants impose complex and demanding loads on their foundations, static equipment loads, dynamic loads from rotating machinery, thermal expansion forces, and the consequence of any differential settlement on process pipework integrity. We design gas plant foundations that safely transfer all these loads to the ground while maintaining the alignment tolerances required by process equipment.
- Compressor and turbine equipment foundations (dynamic analysis)
- Vessel and tank foundations
- Pipe rack and pipe sleeper foundations
- Flare stack foundations
- Control room and substation building structural design
- Piled foundations in poor ground conditions
Structural Design of Petroleum Plant Infrastructure
Beyond individual equipment foundations, petroleum plants require a comprehensive structural design of all supporting infrastructure: pipe racks, access platforms, stairways, equipment plinths, bund walls, and firewater storage structures. We design all of these as an integrated structural package, coordinated with process, piping, and electrical disciplines.
Onshore & Offshore Structural Design
We design structural systems for both onshore and offshore oil and gas applications. Offshore structural design demands a higher level of technical rigour, accounting for wave loading, current loading, marine corrosion, fatigue, and seismic effects. We apply international standards (API, AISC, ISO) alongside Nigerian DPR requirements to deliver offshore-compliant structural designs.
Structural Integrity Assessment for Existing Oil & Gas Facilities
Many of Nigeria’s oil and gas facilities have been in operation for decades. We provide structural integrity assessments of aging plant infrastructure, identifying corrosion damage, overstress conditions, and fatigue concerns, and recommending structural repairs or replacement before failure occurs.
Our Experience: Highland NLG Plant, Ajaokuta
Masterstone Engineering delivered the detail engineering design of foundations for the Highland Natural Liquefied Gas (NLG) Plant in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, one of Nigeria’s energy infrastructure projects aimed at expanding the country’s domestic gas utilisation capacity. This project required full geotechnical analysis of the Ajaokuta site, dynamic foundation analysis for rotating plant equipment, and the production of a complete foundation design package compliant with international oil and gas structural standards.
Standards & Codes
- API 650, Welded Tanks for Oil Storage
- API 2000, Venting Atmospheric and Low-Pressure Storage Tanks
- AISC 360, Structural Steel for Buildings
- ACI 318, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete
- ISO 19902, Offshore Steel Structures
- Nigerian DPR Regulations
- BS EN Eurocodes (EC2, EC3, EC7)