ADNOC Drilling Bags $733MM Contract for 3 Rigs at Zakum Field

ADNOC Drilling Company PJSC has secured a $733 million contract from ADNOC Offshore for three island drilling rigs to support operations at the Zakum field offshore Abu Dhabi.

The contract award will follow existing agreements, with revenue underpinned by a long-term duration with guaranteed returns, ADNOC Drilling said in a news release. The three new island rigs will operate on existing and newly constructed innovative artificial islands at the offshore Zakum field for drilling and completion of wells.

The rigs will be constructed by Honghua Group (HH), with delivery of the rigs and start of operations expected in 2026. The rigs will be designed and built as part of a partnership between ADNOC Drilling and HH. The partnership has been specifically formed to harness the transformative nature of AI, digitization, and advanced technology in the design and operation of these next generation drilling rigs. ADNOC Drilling and HH will look to also collaborate with AIQ, an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer contributing to the energy sector globally, according to the release.

ADNOC Drilling CEO Abdulrahman Abdulla Al Seiari said, “ADNOC Drilling is honored to receive this substantial award, which marks a significant milestone in our company’s accelerated growth journey. These new island rigs will be the most advanced in the world, embracing artificial intelligence, the most transformative technology of our generation”

“Our partnership with HH will amplify the creativity and ingenuity of our industry as we design and build these rigs of the future that drive efficiency and safety and deliver exceptional value for our customer ADNOC Offshore,” he added.

ADNOC Offshore CEO Tayba Abdul Rahim Al Hashemi said, “ADNOC Drilling’s technical expertise and enhanced capabilities are key enablers as we safely and sustainably accelerate to meet the world’s growing energy demands. This award will strengthen our partnership in the future as we work together to harness AI and innovation to maximize energy, minimize emissions and unlock significant value for stakeholders”.

ADNOC Drilling said the rig operating systems will be designed to use real-time condition, performance and utilization data to create actionable insights, enhancing rig performance and increasing efficiency, leading to improvements in safety and well delivery times. Additionally, drilling operations on ADNOC’s artificial islands create the ideal conditions for extended reach drilling (ERD) with the top five longest wells in the world being delivered from these islands off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the most recently delivered being over 52,000 feet. The rigs will be built to deliver ERD as well as having the state-of-the-art capability of walking between wells eliminating the need for the rigs to be dismantled to be moved. These capabilities dramatically improve efficiency and safety while vastly reducing costs and emissions, the company stated.

The total capital expenditure expected for the purchase of the new island rigs is approximately $210 million, mostly concentrated in 2025, with the first full-year revenue from the new rigs expected to be in 2027, according to the release.

The ADNOC Drilling fleet is now expected to total at least 148 by 2026 including these three new rigs as well as the previously announced three land rigs for the initial phase of the unconventionals development. Since the fourth quarter of 2021, the company said it has invested more than $2.2 billion in building one of the largest integrated drilling fleets in the world.

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