Ades buys Saipem’s Saudi rigs

Drilling contractor Ades is expanding its offshore footprint with a USD 285 mn acquisition of Italian Saipem’s shallow-water drilling business in Saudi Arabia, according to a disclosure. The acquisition — expected to close in 3Q — includes some USD 1 bn in backlog, alongside three owned and two leased premium jackup rigs, and will be funded through existing liquidity and financing commitments. Ades’ fleet will expand to 128 units, including 88 offshore rigs and 40 onshore units.

This comes as Gulf offshore drilling activity shows signs of recovery following months of disruptions with all affected rigs in Qatar back in service while Saudi is starting to issue rig resumption notices. Ades had temporarily suspended operations at several offshore drilling rigs across the GCC in March amid regional tensions that forced Gulf producers to slash daily crude production due to limited storage capacity.

More on Ades’ acquisitions: Ades along with its Cayman-based arm BidCo completed the takeover of Dubai-based and Oslo-listed Shelf Drilling in November last year. The acquisition folded Shelf’s fleet into Ades’s platform, creating a combined group with 123 rigs and expanding Ades’s footprint to 19 countries. The combined platform had a contracted backlog of more than SAR 34 bn.