Directional/complex wells

ADNOC Taps Schlumberger, Weatherford, Halliburton in New Directional Drilling, LWD Contracts

ADNOC awarded a new round of contracts to international service companies, intending to apply directional drilling and LWD to boost production by getting a better assessment of its reservoirs.

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The agreements are the largest of their kind to date in the oil and gas industry, according to ADNOC.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has awarded framework agreements valued at $1.83 billion to five drilling services and supply companies for directional drilling and logging-while-drilling (LWD) solutions to support the emirate’s goal of expanding its oil production capacity to 5 million B/D by 2030.

The 5-year agreements—the largest of their kind to date in the oil and gas industry, according to ADNOC—went to Abu Dhabi’s Al Ghaith Oilfield Supplies and Services Company, Al Mansoori Directional Drilling Services, Schlumberger Middle East SA, Halliburton Worldwide Limited Abu Dhabi, and Weatherford Bin Hamoodah Company LLC following a tender.

The awards apply to ADNOC’s onshore and offshore fields as Abu Dhabi aims to boost conventional drilling by 40% by 2025 as well as tap into unconventional reservoirs to reach 2030 production targets. If needed, the agreements can be extended by another 2 years, the company said.

Abu Dhabi set its 5 million B/D production goal with intent to retain the country’s position as a leading low-cost, low-carbon oil producer while also producing enough gas to support the UAE’s domestic needs and industrial development. Over 75% of the award value is expected to flow back into the UAE economy under its In-Country Value program.

Commenting in a separate press release, Weatherford President and CEO, Girish Saligram, noted that besides his company’s technology solutions, Weatherford’s “manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi will further bolster the In-Country Value Program—an initiative Weatherford has supported since the beginning.”

Weatherford pegged the value of its most recent contract with ADNOC at more than $400 million.

ADNOC has optimized its procurement strategy of late, focusing on long-term contracts with an optimal number of suppliers that provide stable and reliable delivery at competitive rates.

Since November 2021, the company said it has awarded more than $11 billion to top-tier contractors for wellheads and related components, downhole completion equipment and related services, liner hangers, cementing services, wireline logging, and directional drilling.

“These (latest) awards (made in the last month) build on our ongoing investments in drilling services, and they will deliver substantial in-country value for the nation to support economic growth and diversification, in line with the UAE Leadership’s wise directives,” Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, ADNOC Upstream Executive Director, said.

In late July, ADNOC awarded contracts totaling $2 billionto ADNOC Drilling and to ADNOC Logistics & Services to enable up to 10 years of drilling to develop the offshore sour-gas Hail and Ghasha Project.