Two four-year jack-up rig deals mark Abu Dhabi company’s entry into Kuwait’s offshore market
Kuwait Oil Company has awarded two contracts to Adnoc Drilling with an aggregate value of up to 96.5 million Kuwaiti dinars ($314 million), with the UAE company to provide and operate offshore jack-up rigs.
The award marks Adnoc Drilling’s entry into offshore Kuwait and will be its first offshore rig operations outside the UAE, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Approved by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s Higher Procurement Committee, the contracts run for a four-year firm term, including mobilisation, with an option to extend by one year. The aggregate value of almost $314 million does not include the optional year, the company added.
Adnoc Drilling expects to use one of its own jack-up rigs and to bareboat charter a second. Operations are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027.
“This award marks Adnoc Drilling’s entry into offshore Kuwait and an important step forward in our international growth journey,” said chief executive Abdulla Al Messabi.
Adnoc Drilling is looking to expand to markets in the Middle East, including Syria, and is also exploring deals to boost its gas drilling business.
The company acquired an 80 per cent stake in Oman’s MB Petroleum Services and a 70 per cent stake in global oilfield services company SLB’s land drilling rigs business in Kuwait and Oman as part of its regional expansion plans last year.
The company – with a rig count of 170, including 140 rigs in Abu Dhabi – said the contracts in Kuwait were expected to make their first full-year financial contribution in 2028.
The company said the contracts built on its experience in complex offshore operations and were part of its “Drill-to-Operate” strategy, which focuses on strategic partnerships and new revenue streams to drive long-term growth.
Kuwait is inviting international oil companies to help develop its offshore discoveries as it aims to raise production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2035.
Last month, Adnoc Drilling reported nine-month net profit of $1.07 billion, driven by record revenue.
The company expects its unconventional drilling business to recover and hit record levels next year, after a lull, chief financial officer Youssef Salem told The National. “By next year is when we expect to have that significant ramp-up, and then unconventional [will] go back to become even higher than what it was until Q2,” Mr Salem said at the time.
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