Pietro Fiorentini USA, last week announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Weirton, W.Va.
The $9 million plant is expected to create up to 41 jobs during the initial phase and up to 150 when fully operational.
Parent company Pietro Fiorentini S.p.a., based in Italy, produces pressure regulators, valves, and pressure reducing and metering systems for the natural gas industry.
Although the company has a sales office and a distributorship in the U.S., the West Virginia plant will be its first manufacturing operation in the country. The new facility will produce components for the treatment of shale oil and gas.
“Pietro Fiorentini group decided to invest in West Virginia after completing a feasibility study that covered several states of the nation,” said Sergio Trevisan, General Manager for Pietro Fiorentini S.p.a. “Our study confirmed that the Marcellus area has a large potential yet to be developed. And this was the main decision factor. Specifically in the Marcellus area, West Virginia offers, in our opinion, an interesting business atmosphere combined with an excellent support from the state.”
Construction on the new manufacturing facility is expected to start this summer.
“Having Pietro Fiorentini build its new plant in Weirton will be the single biggest manufacturing project in the panhandle for nearly a generation,” said Patrick B. Ford, executive director, Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle. “The investment by this company — coupled with the recent announcements in the panhandle of the investment of Sheehan Pipeline and the expansion of Ergon — clearly places Brooke and Hancock counties on the radar of the oil and gas industry."