Adnoc Drilling appoints Abdulla Al Messabi as chief executive

Current chief Abdulrahman Al Seiari will remain in an advisory capacity and retire at the end of the year

Adnoc Drilling has appointed Abdulla Al Messabi as its new chief executive. Photo: Adnoc Drilling

Adnoc Drilling, the Middle East's largest drilling company, has appointed Abdulla Al Messabi as its new chief executive.

Abdulrahman Al Seiari, the company’s current chief executive, will retire at the end of the year following more than 45 years at Adnoc and Adnoc Drilling. He will remain in an advisory capacity until the end of the year to support a “smooth and seamless” leadership transition, the company said in a statement on Monday.

“Under his [Mr Abdulrahman’s] leadership, the company has transformed into one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced energy services providers,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc and chairman of Adnoc Drilling.

Abdulrahman Al Seiari has spent more than 45 years at Adnoc and Adnoc Drilling. Photo: Adnoc Drilling

Mr Al Messabi previously served as chief executive of Adnoc Sour Gas and, before that, chief executive of Adnoc Refining. He will help “advance Adnoc Drilling’s strategy of delivering profitable growth and long-term value creation, while ensuring continued efficiency and performance across all operations”, Dr Al Jaber said.

Adnoc Drilling owned 142 rigs ­– 95 onshore and 47 offshore – as of the end of last year, with three new island rigs on order for 2026. The company expects to boost its partnerships and acquisitions in 2025 as its profit grew by nearly a quarter in the first three months of the year.

Net profit in the period that ended on March 31 jumped 24 per cent annually to $341 million. Revenue increased by about 32 per cent year-on-year to $1.17 billion.

The Abu Dhabi company signed a joint venture agreement with global oilfield services company SLB last month for its land drilling rigs business in Kuwait and Oman, as it seeks to expand beyond the UAE.

Adnoc Drilling is the largest integrated drilling services company in the Middle East by fleet size

Last year, the company teamed up with Alpha Dhabi Holding to launch Enersol, a technology-focused venture. It aims to invest $1.5 billion in technology-driven companies in the oilfield services sector by the end of 2025. Enersol has already acquired four companies and has spent $800 million out of a $1.5 billion capital expenditure earmarked through the end of 2025.

Mr Al Seiari led Adnoc Drilling through its initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in 2022, which was 31 times oversubscribed. Adnoc raised $1.1 billion from the listing.

The drilling company raised a further $935 million by selling 880 million additional shares to institutional investors in May last year. The share sale represented 5.5 per cent of Adnoc Drilling’s total issued share capital.