Page 8 - MEOG Week 23 2022
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MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG
Aramco continuing rig
fleet expansion: report
SAUDI ARABIA MAJORITY state-owned Saudi Aramco is data provided by consultancy IGM Energy.
expanding its offshore drilling fleet as it works Meanwhile, expansion will come from the on-
to expand the Kingdom’s maximum sustainable and offshore areas of the Partitioned Neutral
capacity (MSC) of oil production. Zone (PNZ) Riyadh shares with Kuwait.
With Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdu- Westwood reported that Aramco has signed
laziz bin Salman Al Saud saying last month that 26 of these deals since March, with more than
MSC would grow from the current 12.1mn bar- half of these going to the local ADES Group fol-
rels per day to 13.3-13.4mn bpd by 2027, a report lowing the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF)
by Westwood Global Energy said that Aramco is financial support for its delisting from the Lon-
in the process of adding 31 jack-ups to its fleet by don Stock Exchange and acquisition by Innova-
signing contracts ranging from three to five years tive Energy last year.
in length at day rates of $78,000-$98,000. ADES’ success is unsurprising given its recent
Five more rigs are expected to be hired within relocation of its headquarters from Egypt to
the next month, according to the report. This will Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
give Aramco a contracted fleet of 78 rigs, with The company has also been on a spending spree,
Westwood’s RigLogix division anticipating a buying five jack-ups from India’s Aban Offshore
separate tender to be launched for a further 10 already this year. This has seen its fleet expand
rigs. to 32 jack-ups.
Though the date for the next tender has Aramco also awarded rig contracts to Sead-
not yet been announced, Westwood’s head of rill, COSL, Saipem, Valaris, Borr Drilling and
RigLogix, Terry Childs, said: “Should all 10 jack- Arabian Drilling. The latter, owned by the local
ups be added, it will push the number of con- Industrialisation & Energy Services Co. (TAQA,
tracted units for Saudi Aramco to 88, right up 51%) and Schlumberger (49%), is reported to
against its reported goal of having 90 jack-ups have hired banks for a potential initial public
working by the end of 2024.” offering (IPO) while also considering merging
Aramco’s focus on expanding its offshore with ADES.
drilling capabilities is unsurprising when con- The move is seen creating a ‘national cham-
sidering that crude increment projects at the off- pion’ for drilling and a competitor for ADNOC
shore Berri, Marjan and Zuluf oilfields are seen Drilling, the subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National
yielding 1.15mn bpd of production capacity to Oil Co. (ADNOC), which is the region’s biggest
offset decline elsewhere by 2026, according to driller.
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 08•June•2022
