Arabian Drilling has signed a four-year contract worth approximately $533 million with Khafji Joint Operations to provide four high-specification offshore jackup drilling rigs, taking the Saudi Arabia-based contractor’s total order backlog to a record 18 billion Saudi riyals, equivalent to $4.8 billion.
Khafji Joint Operations is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, operating in the Khafji offshore field in the Divided Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The contract will support KJO’s offshore drilling programme, with Arabian Drilling’s financial contribution from the award expected to begin at the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.
Arabian Drilling CEO Fahad Albani said the award marked a significant expansion of the company’s offshore business and was the largest single offshore drilling contract ever awarded to the company by KJO. He described it as a reflection of the strength of the partnership and the company’s proven ability to deliver reliable and efficient operations at scale, adding that the record backlog significantly enhances future revenue and strengthens the quality and resilience of the company’s earnings profile.
Arabian Drilling operates one of the largest drilling fleets in the Middle East, serving customers including Saudi Aramco, KJO, SLB and Baker Hughes across both onshore and offshore operations. The company listed on the Saudi Exchange in 2022 and has been expanding its offshore capability in parallel with growing demand across the Arabian Gulf.
The four-jackup contract award comes at a time of strong utilisation across the Middle East jackup market. Saudi Aramco’s aggressive offshore development programme, including the Berri, Marjan, Zuluf and Safaniya expansions, has absorbed significant jackup capacity and driven day rates to multi-year highs. The KJO award extends Arabian Drilling’s exposure to that cycle well into 2030.
The record backlog figure positions Arabian Drilling strongly ahead of what the company expects to be a sustained period of offshore drilling demand in the Arabian Gulf, where the post-Hormuz recovery period has reinforced the strategic importance of maximising production from existing Gulf infrastructure as quickly and safely as possible.
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