Adnoc Drilling plans to boost partnerships beyond Abu Dhabi as profit jumps 24%

Adnoc Drilling, the Middle East's biggest drilling company, expects to boost its partnerships and acquisitions in 2025 as its profit grew by nearly a quarter in the first three months of the year.

The Adnoc unit is looking for partnerships that “go beyond” Abu Dhabi, chief executive Abdulrahman Al Seiari told The National on Thursday.

Adnoc Drilling's joint venture with Alpha Dhabi, Enersol, has already acquired four companies and has spent $800 million out of a $1.5 billion capital expenditure earmarked through the end of 2025.

“We are looking at other potential joint ventures … those are on the table [and] we are studying them,” he said in an interview.

“We actually have active tenders in hand … we have plans to invest more in acquisitions and have a few good candidates that we are studying and in due time we'll be talking about that.”

Adnoc Drilling also announced that it will be distributing quarterly dividends of at least $217 million in 2025.

Net profit in the period that ended on March 31 jumped 24 per cent annually to $341 million, the company said on Thursday in a regulatory filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

The increase was underpinned by the growth of its rig fleet and expansion in new markets, it said.

Revenue increased by about 32 per cent year-on-year to $1.17 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – a measure of profitability – rose 22 per cent to $533 million.

The company's board of directors on Wednesday approved quarterly dividends for 2025, with the first payout to be paid on or about May 28, it said.

Adnoc Drilling expects “another year of significant growth” owing to its strong start to 2025, Mr Al Seiari said.

“Our first-quarter results reinforce that we are on track to sustain earnings growth, underpinned by our diverse and big fleet, long-term contracts and visibility. We remain well-positioned to fund future growth while maintaining attractive shareholder returns.”

Adnoc Drilling is the largest integrated drilling services company in the Middle East by fleet size. It owned 142 rigs by the end of 2024, with three new island rigs on order for 2026. The company expects that to grow to at least 148 rigs by the end of 2026 and 151 by the end of 2028.

In April, it was awarded a five-year, $1.63 billion contract for integrated drilling services by Adnoc Offshore, which is expected to support its fleet use, diversify revenue streams and accelerate sustainable and long-term growth and returns.

Adnoc Drilling is also seeking contracts for drilling and oilfield services in Kuwait and Oman.

Last year, the company teamed up with Alpha Dhabi Holding to launch Enersol, a tech-focused venture. It aims to invest $1.5 billion in technology-driven companies in the oilfield services sector by the end of 2025.

Adnoc Drilling also expects more opportunities amid parent company Adnoc's global expansion plans.

Adnoc, responsible for most of the UAE’s oil production, recently announced the launch of XRG, a lower carbon energy and chemicals investment unit, with an enterprise value of more than $80 billion.