On Oil & Gas valves the impact of the Middle East crisis

"New projects are shrinking: for this year, production is guaranteed by previous orders, but on 2027, if the situation does not unblock soon, there are great unknowns". Fabio Brevi, CEO of the Bergamo-based Omb group (135 million revenue, 40% of which is generated in the Middle East) sums up the sector's momentum, with oil &gas valve manufacturers looking with apprehension at what is happening in the sector's first outlet market. A partial freeze on new investments and a reduction in demand for supply, which for the time being, however, is not yet affecting the numbers, for a sector that has actually been travelling with the wind in its sails for years. Coming off a two-year period of strong growth, with exports 2025 still advancing drift over 5%, enabling our companies to reach an average share of 10% of world exports. If the orders acquired leave companies relatively calm for the continuation of 2026, the subsequent prospects seem more complex, bearing in mind that on average a quarter of the sector's turnover is directed towards the Middle East, which has now reached close to 3.5 billion.

An area whose production epicentre is Lombardy, which encompasses two-thirds of the sector's companies, with the area around Bergamo, within a radius of less than 100 kilometres, accounting for 90% of the sector's total turnover on a national basis.

It is no coincidence that Bergamo is the venue for the international Industrial Valve Summit (Ivs), organised by Promoberg and Confindustria Bergamo and now in its sixth edition (19-21 May) with a continuous progression in its numbers. Exhibitors are now growing to 416, almost three times as many as at the 2015 debut, with a 30% leap compared to the 2024 edition. Foreign companies in particular are growing strongly, with exhibitors approaching the 100 mark, arriving from 20 countries.

"The protagonists of the growth of this exhibition have been our companies," explains the president of Confindustria Bergamo, Giovanna Ricuperati, "which, despite being competitors, have understood the usefulness of looking at common needs in order to move in the same direction. Ivs has grown significantly and represents an absolute benchmark, a way in which territories can concretely implement industrial policy actions'.

Success that prompted the organising body Promoberg to plan the doubling of the exhibition spaces in the area, an expansion that is necessary in light of the arrival of new exhibitors: two temporary pavilions will be organised at this edition, but the goal for the 2028 edition is to have the new infrastructure already operational.