UAE-based Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) subsidiary ADNOC Drilling has unveiled plans to expand its rig fleet to support its 2030 Smart Growth Strategy.
As part of the first phase of the programme, ADNOC has acquired four UAE-built land rigs with a total value of over AED 350m ($95.2m).
The firm said that after the integration of four rigs, which will join the fleet in the first quarter of 2020, ADNOC Drilling planned to acquire additional land, offshore, and island rigs by 2025.
ADNOC Drilling CEO Abdalla Saeed Al Suwaidi 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.
“In addition, the possession of modern, diverse, and technologically advanced rigs enhances our operational efficiency as we amplify our drilling activities in line with ADNOC’s 2030 smart growth strategy and a more profitable upstream.”
ADNOC Drilling acquired UAE-built rigs
The acquired four rigs were manufactured in the UAE by National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and will be installed in ADNOC’s onshore fields.
ADNOC Drilling said that the acquisition of the four new rigs built by UAE supports ADNOC’s In-Country Value strategy, which aimed at the growth and diversification of the UAE’s economy.
In 2018, Baker Hughes acquired a 5% stake in ADNOC Drilling, which is now claimed to have transformed into a fully Integrated Drilling Services (IDS) business that is capable of delivering start-to-finish drilling and well-construction.
ADNOC upstream executive director and ADNOC Drilling board of directors’ chairman Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy said: “ADNOC Drilling’s rig fleet expansion underscores ADNOC’s drive to unlock and maximize value from Abu Dhabi’s vast hydrocarbon resources and will further improve drilling and well-completion efficiencies.
“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.”
Earlier in September this year, ADNOC Drilling and its partners completed the first offshore integrated drilling services (IDS) well at the Umm Lulu offshore oil field located in the Arabian Gulf, UAE.
