Baker Hughes’ communication to the Region: the conditions for investment in Calabria are no longer there

John

By John

«I am writing to inform you that Baker Hughes – Nuovo Pignone, after careful evaluation, acknowledging that the conditions to continue have no longer existed, has made the decision to withdraw from the investment project relating to the new industrial settlement on the Port of Corigliano Rossano ( CS)”. As Paolo Noccioni, president of the company, communicated yesterday to the president of Regio Calabri, Roberto Occhiutothe company’s decision to withdraw from the project. «As you well know, we had started – writes Noccioni in a letter – conversations and joint evaluations with the Calabria Region many months before announcing, in October 2023, the investment of around 60 million euros in the regional territory, mainly allocated to the port of Corigliano Rossano, for the creation of metal structures and for the assembly of industrial modules (optimized configurations of machinery and auxiliary components for gas compression, electricity generation and to support solutions for the energy transition) to be exported all over the world, where these modules are installed at the plants of Baker Hughes’ client companies” .
The choice, explains Noccioni, fell on the port of Corigliano Rossano «for the ccombination of various factors, including the strategic position, the size of the available surface and the high draft of the seabed. This project – he continues – represented an important investment for the company in economic terms, for the development of its business and also for the development of the Calabrian territory, in which Nuovo Pignone has been operating since the 1960s with the Vibo Valentia factory. In fact, in the opinion of Baker Hughes and as shared several times with the Calabria Region, the investment in Corigliano would have had important repercussions on the territory, presenting significant growth opportunities in the future.” For all these reasons, we read in the letter, «it is truly with great regret that the company has made the difficult decision not to proceed with the investment, despite the great commitment dedicated to the topic, due to theimpossibility of realizing it as conceived and as responding to the needs of the energy and production market by Baker Hughes. Unfortunately, the planned planning has undergone major slowdowns due to the formal notice of appeal that was notified to our company and other entities last June and forces us today to take note that the time conditions to carry out the project no longer exist. Furthermore, – Noccioni points out – the times and technical and economic conditions to be able to carry out the project do not even exist. with the variations required by the territory, which have been carefully analysed. The company is evaluating solutions and ways to activate alternatives in order to continue to safeguard and develop its role as a leading global player in the energy sector, as its long history demonstrates. We recognize and appreciate the commitment, availability and collaboration that the Calabria Region has offered to the project in the numerous and frequent interactions on the matter: we are certain that the collaboration can continue, because the withdrawal from the aforementioned project, we would like to underline, does not prejudice in any way our commitment to the territory and the desire to continue to contribute to the growth of Calabria”. There had been stances against the investment at a local level originating from the fear that the settlement could put the multi-functionality of the airport at risk. The Municipality, in particular, presented an appeal against the administrative procedure followed.