ADNOC Drilling Wins Kuwait Oil Company Offshore Rig Awards Worth Up to KWD 96.55 Million
The Takeaway: ADNOC Drilling has won approval for Kuwait Oil Company contracts to supply and operate two high-specification offshore jack-up rigs, with a combined maximum value of KWD 96.55 million. Operations are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2027 under a four-year firm term. The company expects the first full-year contribution in 2028 and says the award marks its entry into offshore Kuwait and its first offshore rig operations outside the UAE.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s Higher Procurement Committee has approved two offshore rig contracts for Kuwait Oil Company, ADNOC Drilling said on 9 November, opening offshore Kuwait to the Abu Dhabi driller.
For Kuwait, the award secures two high-specification jack-up rigs for Kuwait Oil Company’s offshore work from the fourth quarter of 2027. For ADNOC Drilling, it carries the company’s offshore drilling business beyond the UAE for the first time, after its regional growth so far came onshore through partnerships.
Kuwait Oil Company awards two jack-up rig contracts
The two separate contracts, for Rig 1 and Rig 2, cover the provision and operation of two high-specification offshore jack-up rigs, the company said. Their combined maximum value is KWD 96.55 million, or an estimated $313.6 million at the company’s own conversion.
The firm term runs four years and includes mobilization. The awards also carry a one-year option, which is not included in the maximum value.
ADNOC Drilling expects to use one jack-up rig that it owns and to take a second on a bareboat charter.
Operations are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. The awards, received as Letters of Award, remain subject to applicable conditions and to the completion of contractual formalities.
Kuwait Oil Company offshore jack-up awards to ADNOC Drilling
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tender | RFP-2151011 |
| Approving body | KPC Higher Procurement Committee |
| Contracts | Two, for Rig 1 and Rig 2 |
| Combined maximum value | KWD 96,554,561.040 |
| Firm term | Four years, including mobilization |
| Option | One year, outside the maximum value |
| Rigs | One owned, one on bareboat charter |
| Expected start | Fourth quarter of 2027 |
| First full-year contribution | 2028 |
As stated in ADNOC Drilling’s release of 9 November 2026. The company puts the value at an estimated $313.6 million.
Abdulla Naji Ateya Al Messabi, the company’s chief executive, called the award “an important step forward in our international growth journey”. He said ADNOC Drilling would bring its offshore expertise and its commitment to safe and reliable operations to Kuwait.
Offshore award extends a regional push built onshore
Kuwait is not new ground for ADNOC Drilling. In an exchange disclosure dated 1 January 2026, it said it had completed the purchase, through a wholly owned subsidiary, of a 70% stake in a joint venture set up with SLB for land drilling rigs in Kuwait and Oman.
In May 2026 it also completed the purchase of an 80% stake in MB Petroleum Services, a drilling and oilfield services company with operations in Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
That deal brought 22 drilling and workover rigs into the group. ADNOC Drilling said at the time that its joint ventures ran 30 rigs across Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain, taking its total fleet to 170 rigs.
MB Petroleum Services had already won contracts for four more rigs in January 2026. Three are in Kuwait and one is in Oman, with deployment expected from the second half of 2026 into the first half of 2027.
The Kuwait Oil Company awards add a second line of work in the country, at sea rather than on land. ADNOC Drilling ties them to the regional pillar of Drill-to-Operate, its strategy launched in October, which names partnerships and access to new customers and markets as long-term growth drivers.
Regional work is already showing in the accounts. In the nine-month results set out here on 27 October, onshore drilling revenue rose 5%, which the company said was supported by the consolidation of regional operations.
Offshore drilling revenue rose 4% over the same period, helped by additional offshore capacity that included an AI-enabled island rig added in June. That gain more than offset the planned repurposing of two jack-up rigs in the third quarter, the company said.
Earnings contribution starts in 2027 and reaches a full year in 2028
ADNOC Drilling said the contracts’ expected 2027 contribution is already included in the preliminary 2027 guidance it gave with its nine-month results. The first full-year contribution follows in 2028.
That guidance, set out here with the results, points to low-to-mid single-digit revenue growth in 2027, with an EBITDA margin broadly in line with 2026. Net profit is expected to stay broadly stable, as higher depreciation and financing costs offset operational growth.
On The Edge’s calculation, the maximum value averages KWD 24.14 million a year over the firm term, or $78.4 million at the company’s conversion. Because mobilization falls inside the term, the yearly average is a guide to scale rather than a run rate.
ADNOC Drilling’s 2026 guidance puts offshore revenue at more than $1.4 billion. The yearly average is less than 6% of that figure.
It is also under 2% of the company’s revenue guidance for the year, an estimated $5 billion by its own figure.
In The Edge’s reading, the award matters more for where ADNOC Drilling can operate than for its near-term earnings: it gives the company a first offshore reference outside the UAE, with a national oil company as the client, while Kuwait Oil Company secures two offshore jack-up rigs from a regional supplier.
For context, the same results showed nine-month revenue of $3.71 billion and net profit of $1.07 billion. Kuwait Oil Company took KWD 461.48 million across three tenders awarded through the Central Agency for Public Tenders in the first half of 2026, as set out here in September.
Figures are from ADNOC Drilling’s media release on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dated 9 November 2026, its exchange disclosure of 1 January 2026, its nine-month 2026 results release of 27 October 2026 and its release of 4 May 2026; percentages and comparisons not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations. Dollar equivalents of the award are ADNOC Drilling’s own conversion; at the Central Bank of Kuwait’s mid-rate of 0.30825 dinars per dollar on 9 November 2026 (quoted at 0.30820 to 0.30830), the award equals $313.2 million.
Sources: ADNOC Drilling, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Central Bank of Kuwait, The Edge.
