Adnoc Drilling targets business outside the UAE amid local capacity ramp-up

Adnoc aims to boost domestic conventional wells drilling by 40% by 2025

Adnoc Drilling completed its first offshore integrated drilling services well in Abu Dhabi to boost efficiency. Silvia Razgova / The National

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company plans to target drilling outside the UAE as well as boost its local drilling of conventional resources by 40 per cent by 2025, amid an increase in domestic production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2020.

Adnoc Drilling, the sole rig provider for its parent company, will undertake the local drilling activity with the help of US oil services company Baker Hughes, a GE company that paid $550 million for a 5 per cent stake in the Adnoc subsidiary last year. Adnoc Drilling has also completed the first “fully integrated drilling services” well in the onshore Al Dabbyia field.

Integrated drilling services combine the business of well drilling with a wide range of other complementary services that are necessary to bring the well to the production phase.

“The well was the first to be drilled in a fully integrated way – delivered to Drilling’s client, Adnoc Onshore, which is helping to enable and support the growth and development of Adnoc Drilling as the company targets new business opportunities in the UAE and beyond,” Adnoc said on Sunday.

Adnoc is ramping up its oil production capacity to 4 million bpd by 2020 and 5 million bpd by 2030 with the help of international oil companies, which have been awarded stakes in various oil and gasfields. The company is also seeking to extract more value from its operations, which include an expanding petrochemicals and refining portfolio.

"In partnership with BHGE, Adnoc Drilling will generate predictable, long-term revenue streams and growth in the market," said Abdulmunim Al Kindy, Adnoc's upstream executive director.

“By leveraging a complete range of drilling services, the company will also enhance its operational performance in line with Adnoc’s 2030 smart growth strategy, which seeks to increase its crude oil and gas production capacity and optimise costs and efficiencies to create a more profitable upstream business.”

Baker Hughes’ acquisition of a 5 per cent stake in Adnoc Drilling in October valued the company at $11 billion.