ADNOC Drilling Welcomes Two Premium Offshore Jack-Up Rigs to UAE Waters
UAE-based drilling giant ADNOC Drilling has disclosed the arrival of two premium offshore jack-up drilling rigs in the Middle Eastern country’s waters. These rigs are part of the firm’s fleet expansion program, envisioned to enable it to support ADNOC’s accelerated production capacity growth.
Given ADNOC’s ambitious, long-term development plan and oil and gas production aspirations, including a five million barrel per day capacity target, ADNOC Drilling believes that these two new premium high-specification jack-up rigs, which have now arrived in the UAE, will ensure that its offshore jack-up rig fleet is one of the largest in the world.
The jack-up pair, known as Al Jurf and Dana, will now become part of the UAE player’s fleet, which consisted of 140 rigs, 136 owned plus four lease-to-own land rigs, at the end of September 2024, up from 124 a year ago. The overall owned fleet availability was 95% at the end of the third quarter of 2024.
“High-spec jack-up rigs, Al Jurf and Dana have arrived in UAE waters, ahead of joining our operational fleet. Our fleet expansion program continues to deliver new rigs for our customers and confirms ADNOC Drilling as the owner of one of the world’s largest operational jack-up drilling fleets,” revealed ADNOC Drilling.
While last year was characterized by higher capex for fleet expansion, this year the free cash flow included Enersol’s acquisition of 67.2% of Gordon Technologies in two tranches for a total amount of $205 million, of which $117 million in the third quarter of 2024.
On August 5, 2024, Enersol agreed to acquire a 100% equity stake in EV Holdings, subject to regulatory approvals and closing adjustments, for a consideration of $45 million. With corporate headquarters in the United States, EV is a provider of vision-based diagnostics and analytics services for the oil and gas sector. The company has a global footprint, with a presence in 36 countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
A month before this, ADNOC Drilling confirmed the award of a contract valued at $733 million with ADNOC Offshore for three island drilling rigs to back the growing operations at the Zakum offshore field. The delivery of the rigs and the start of operations are expected during 2026.
The drilling player underlined that the first full-year revenue from the new rigs is expected to come in 2027. The capex for the purchase of the new island rigs is approximately $210 million, mostly concentrated in 2025.
Abdulrahman Abdulla Al Seiari, CEO of ADNOC Drilling, underscored: “Our ambitious fleet expansion strategy coupled with the accelerated growth of Oilfield Services has delivered exceptional bottom-line performance, beyond the expectations of the market.”
At the end of September 2024, ADNOC Drilling announced the creation of the Turnwell joint venture with SLB and Patterson-UTI and the acceleration of its 144 unconventional oil and gas well program, following the delivery of the first wells in the campaign.
The rig owner’s offshore jack-up segment delivered revenue growth of 48%, or $852 million, in the first nine months of 2024, up from $575 million in the same period of last year, driven by the full contribution of new jack-up rigs that went into operations over the course of 2023 and 2024.
The company’s third-quarter revenue increased 46% year-on-year to $290 million from $199 million last year because of higher activity from jack-ups compared to the previous year as the offshore operations expanded.
The firm’s offshore island revenue decreased 1% year-on-year to $156 million from $157 million, mainly driven by a one-off claim related to the demobilization of an island rig, which was allocated to the Hail and Ghasha project last year.
ADNOC Drilling, which accelerated its own growth plans to enable ADNOC’s strategic imperative of expanding production capacity from four to 5 million barrels per day by 2027, expects its owned rig count to increase to at least 148 by the end of 2026.