ADIPEC 2026 Kicks Off in Abu Dhabi

As ADIPEC 2026 opens at ADNEC under the theme "Performance under pressure: Energy systems in a new era", 239,000 energy professionals from 170 countries and 2,250 exhibitors gather around one question: how do energy systems stay reliable in a volatile world?

More than three decades give Petro Middle East (PME) a distinctive answer. That is how long the Abu Dhabi-based company, one of the UAE's leading energy companies, has been connecting the world's energy technology to the Emirates — and its answer stands on the factory floor.

A new era, measured in numbers

At the Make it with ADNOC Forum in October 2026, held in the run-up to ADIPEC, ADNOC reaffirmed AED 200 billion (~US$54.5 billion) in project awards for 2026–2028 and unveiled more than AED 60 billion (~US$16.3 billion) in local manufacturing opportunities through 2030 across 200 products and critical spare parts — on top of AED 80 billion (~US$21.8 billion) of local manufacturing agreements since 2022 and a AED 90 billion (~US$24.5 billion) local-purchasing target for 2030.

Local+ turns these numbers into factory orders: with more than 100 qualified UAE manufacturers, Made in the Emirates products are now first choice in every new EPC tender, supplier registration is up to 80% faster and purchasing cycles up to 40% shorter. "Energy security is a shared responsibility," ADIPEC reminds the industry. For PME, that responsibility has an address.

From representation to industrial investment

Once a bridge between international manufacturers and the national market, PME today co-invests with world-leading OEMs in plants that produce in Abu Dhabi, to ADNOC standards, with Emirati teams: OMB Gulf, its valve plant with Italy's OMB, completing ADNOC Local Manufacturer qualification for a December 2026 start; Pressbolt Middle East, already manufacturing industrial bolting; CEPAI Gulf, with China's CEPAI, licensed as an Industrial Leader for a major valve plant; and RRCME in specialist industrial cleaning and chemical services.

"Every product we manufacture here takes one more critical item off the import list," says Khalil El Khatib, Group Managing Director of PME. "A factory in Abu Dhabi is a security asset, not just a commercial one. When supply chains were disrupted this year, what kept operations running were partners with stock, people and plants inside the country."

Advanced energy technologies, delivered from the UAE

Through its Upstream & Advanced Energy Technologies division, PME brings the technologies that make existing assets safer, cleaner and more reliable — the core of ADIPEC's low-carbon, digital and AI zones: Biffi (Emerson), SPX FLOW and Hydro Inc. in flow and rotating equipment, with critical pumps re-engineered in-country; Quorum Software in digital energy; Lloyd's Register in advanced engineering; Johnson Controls in telecom technologies. With partner Sevence it has signed an MOU with ADNOC on robotics. With strategic partner Immensa, PME brings additive manufacturing, 3D printing and digital warehousing to spare-parts management — producing critical parts on demand in the UAE instead of holding imported stock. And in project delivery, PME's strategic partner Jereh has secured two significant EPC contracts with ADNOC Onshore in 2026 — proof that the UAE-partner-plus-international-OEM model competes at project scale.

Why the world's OEMs now build in Abu Dhabi

Three pillars, all strengthened by ADNOC's 2026 reforms: certain demand through 2030, Local+ preference in every tender, and support — land at KEZAD, financing and simpler qualification. "An OEM that remains an exporter is now competing against its own products made locally," El Khatib notes. "Our offer is simple: a qualified UAE National partner, an ADNOC-registered platform, and a proven route from first order to local factory."

"ADIPEC is where the energy world meets," he concludes. "Make it in the Emirates is where it builds. PME lives at the intersection of the two."