Adnoc Drilling eyes Egypt, Parkin eyes Bahrain, and Masdar makes headway in UK. Plus: More local defense manufacturing

Adnoc Drilling eyes Egypt for expansion

Adnoc Drilling is in talks to expand into Egypt, with CEO Abdullah Ateya Al Messabi meeting Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi to discuss a potential role in the country’s onshore and offshore well drilling program, according to two separate statements (here and here). Al Messabi also flagged interest in partnering directly with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and its subsidiaries. Talks remain early-stage, with no term sheet or contract announced.

Why Egypt? Egypt is targeting 160 new wells this fiscal year, backed by at least USD 7.2 bn in planned foreign partner investments to offset declining domestic gas output. Meanwhile, Adnoc Drilling has been positioning itself as the execution arm for Adnoc’s broader upstream ambitions, standing ready to help the parent company scale output beyond 5 mn bbl / d if called upon, following the UAE’s exit from Opec.

ALSO- Adnoc unit XRG’s Arcius Energy joint venture (with BP) is already developing the Harmattan gas field and Atoll West exploratory well in Egypt’s Mediterranean basin — building on the ground the wider Adnoc Group has already started to stake out there.

The firm is on track to deploy some 70 rigs domestically by year-end and operates the largest drilling fleet in the MENA region at 170 rigs across the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain. It recently expanded to Oman and Kuwait after completing its acquisition of an 80% stake in MB Petroleum Services (MBPS), a Muscat-based drilling and oilfield services provider, following an earlier agreement to take over SLB Land Drilling.

Parkin eyes Bahrain after Egypt entry

Dubai’s Parkin is stepping up its expansion outside the UAE, signing an MoU with Bahrain’s Amakin to explore smart parking and mobility prospects in the Kingdom, according to a press release. The Bahrain push comes just days after the parking operator announced its first move into Egypt, where it signed a similar MoU covering assets owned by Modon Misr, Mwasalat Misr, and Redcon Properties.

Powerus starts building drone interceptors in the UAE

The UAE is getting more of its drone defense made at home, with US firm Powerus giving an Emirati contractor the parts, software, and training to assemble its Guardian interceptors locally, The New York Times reports. The facility is producing around 30 interceptors a day for now, with plans to ramp up output to 100.

Why this matters: This fits right into the defense strategy we’ve been tracking. The UAE wants to buy from more suppliers, but it also wants more of the manufacturing and know-how at home.

The cost logic: Cheap, locally made interceptors matter most against cheap threats. Drone swarms are a volume problem, and importing a USD-denominated interceptor for every low-cost drone doesn’t scale the way a domestically assembled one does.

REMEMBER- Building more of its own hardware doesn’t mean Abu Dhabi is diversifying away from Washington. The UAE just added new THAAD launchers under a USD 211.4 mn Lockheed Martin contract. Abu Dhabi is building out its own defense manufacturing base while keeping the US at the center of its missile defense architecture.

Masdar launches operations at second UK battery project

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) kicked off commercial operations at a 35-MW / 70-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Rochdale, its second such project in the UK as it advances a planned GBP 1 bn investment program in the country, state news agency Wam reports. The facility can supply enough clean power for about 35k homes per day while providing grid-balancing services that respond to changes in electricity supply and demand within milliseconds.

Building a 3-GWh pipeline: The Rochdale project follows Masdar’s 20 MW / 40 MWh Welkin Road facility in Stockport, which came online in December. Projects in Chesterfield and Cardiff — with a total capacity of 150 MW / 300 MWh — are also underway. Masdar committed to building a 3 GWh UK BESS pipeline after its 2022 acquisition of Arlington Energy. The investment supports the UK’s target of building up to 27 GW of battery storage by 2030.