ADNOC Drilling to buy ‘dozens’ of drilling rigs by 2025

UAE-based ADNOC Drilling has announced a major drilling rig fleet expansion program saying it would order dozens of drilling rigs by 2025.

The drilling subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC said the fleet expansion would support ADNOC’s upstream growth plans and enable the delivery of its 2030 Smart Growth Strategy.

In the first phase of the wider expansion program, ADNOC acquired, in November 2019, four UAE-built land rigs with a total value of over AED 350 million ($100 million). The four new rigs were manufactured in the UAE by National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and will be deployed in ADNOC’s onshore fields, which currently contribute more than 50 percent of ADNOC’s daily Murban oil production capacity.

Following the integration of the four rigs, which will join the fleet in the first quarter of 2020, ADNOC Drilling plans to acquire dozens of additional land, offshore, and island rigs by 2025, ADNOC said.

Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, ADNOC Upstream Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ADNOC Drilling, said: “The program is a pivotal enabler of our plans to substantially increase drilling for conventional oil and gas as well as considerably ramp up the number of unconventional wells, as we grow our oil production capacity and work to achieve gas self-sufficiency for the UAE.”

“This major rig expansion program cements ADNOC Drilling’s position as the largest drilling company in the Middle East and the region’s first fully Integrated Drilling Services (IDS) company and will support ADNOC’s target to achieve a crude oil production capacity of 5 million barrels per day by 2030.”

“Acquiring UAE-built rigs underpins ADNOC’s In-Country Value strategy, aimed at the growth and diversification of the UAE’s economy. The rig additions take the value of UAE-built rigs in ADNOC Drilling to more than AED 7 billion ($1.9 billion),” ADNOC said.

Abdalla Saeed Al Suwaidi, CEO of ADNOC Drilling, said: “Our rig fleet has expanded more than three-fold in less than a decade, from 29 rigs in 2010 to our current 95 rigs. The next phase of expansion will further strengthen ADNOC Drilling’s capabilities and reinforce our key role of supporting the ADNOC Group in capturing more value from every barrel of oil it produces.

Spotted a typo? Have something more to add to the story? Maybe a nice photo? Contact our editorial team via email.

Also, if you’re interested in showcasing your company, product or technology on Offshore Energy Today, please contact us via our advertising form where you can also see our media kit.