{"id":111006,"date":"2026-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?p=111006"},"modified":"2026-01-05T03:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:13:29","slug":"adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/","title":{"rendered":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adnoc Drilling\u2019s first step outside is official: <\/strong>Adnoc Drilling finalized its USD<\/a>112<\/a>mn agreement<\/a> to acquire a 70% stake in the land drilling business of US oil and gas well drilling company Schlumberger Middle East (SLB) in Kuwait and Oman, according to a disclosure (pdf)<\/a>. This is the company\u2019s first major inorganic expansion outside the UAE aside from one rig in Jordan<\/a>, the initial agreement for which was signed in May.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background as well as external sources.)<\/p>\n

The details: <\/strong>The transaction established a joint venture with SLB, called SLDC Holdings, and grants the state-owned oil company immediate operational control of eight active rigs \u2014 two in Kuwait and six in Oman \u2014 already under long-term contracts with national oil companies. The rigs are fully operational, and the contracts extend into 2028. <\/p>\n

Why this matters: <\/strong>These are contract-heavy, national oil company-led, and operationally familiar markets. That makes them ideal for a first move, with rigs already working and revenue flowing.<\/p>\n

Eyes are firmly set on the GCC for expansion: <\/strong>\u201cWe will continue to expand in the GCC across the drilling and oilfield services space,\u201d Adnoc Drilling\u2019s CFO Youssef Salem told EnterpriseAM, adding that this will be done through Adnoc Drilling\u2019s own operations as well as JVs with SLB and Oman\u2019s MB Petroleum Services<\/a>, of which it agreed to snap up 85% last November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Expansion beyond the region could take a different form:<\/strong> \u201cWe will also continue to expand globally in the energy technology solutions space through Enersol,\u201d Salem added, pointing to the export of a UAE-manufactured measurement-while-drilling system to Azerbaijan<\/a>. The new tech is a result of a tie-up between Enersol, its JV with Alpha Dhabi, and US oil engineering firm Gordon Technologies.<\/p>\n

This year<\/strong>, the firm plans to focus on exporting locally manufactured technology to enhance in-country value through local manufacturing, improving margins through vertical integration in the UAE, and entering new segments, Salem told us. The company expects<\/a> to operate more than 151 rigs by 2028 and reach USD 5 bn in revenue in FY 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the company\u2019s first inorganic expansion outside the UAE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2392],"tags":[57,104,7,1344,60,266],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-111006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ma-watch-2","tag-adnoc","tag-adnoc-drilling","tag-enterpriseam-uae","tag-ma","tag-ma-watch","tag-oil-and-gas","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"f8986dac-17bf-40a4-a344-569c522daf2f","order":"4","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Adnoc Drilling finalizes entry into Oman, Kuwait","related_issue":[110999],"teaser":"This is the company\u2019s first inorganic expansion outside the UAE"},"yoast_head":"\nAdnoc Drilling officially goes regional - UAE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the company\u2019s first inorganic expansion outside the UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Adnoc\",\"Adnoc Drilling\",\"EnterpriseAM UAE\",\"M&A\",\"M&A WATCH\",\"oil and gas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"M&A WATCH\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\",\"name\":\"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional - UAE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"caption\":\"UAE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional - UAE","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional","og_description":"This is the company\u2019s first inorganic expansion outside the UAE","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/","og_site_name":"UAE","article_published_time":"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional","datePublished":"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/"},"wordCount":355,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["Adnoc","Adnoc Drilling","EnterpriseAM UAE","M&A","M&A WATCH","oil and gas"],"articleSection":["M&A WATCH"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/","name":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional - UAE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-01-05T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T03:13:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/05\/adnoc-drilling-officially-goes-regional\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Adnoc Drilling officially goes regional"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","name":"UAE","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization","name":"UAE","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","caption":"UAE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/5\/309.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111043,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111006\/revisions\/111043"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/110999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111006"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=111006"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=111006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}