Kuwait Oil awards ADNOC Drilling two offshore rig contracts worth 96.55m dinars

Summary

• Kuwait Oil Company awarded ADNOC Drilling two offshore rig contracts capped at 96.55 million dinars combined.
• Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's higher purchasing committee approved the award after the Emirati bidder submitted the lowest prices.
• The deal pushes ADNOC Drilling's offshore work beyond the UAE into Kuwait's drilling market.

The latest

Two separate contracts for mobile offshore drilling rigs, Rig-1 and Rig-2, have gone to Emirati firm ADNOC Drilling at a maximum combined cost of about 96.55 million Kuwaiti dinars. The higher purchasing committee at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation approved the awards for Kuwait Oil Company, according to the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm as reported by Al-Rai and Times Kuwait on Sunday, 8 November 2026.

Details

• The contracts: The award covers two separate contracts, one for each mobile offshore drilling rig, identified in the official publication as Rig-1 and Rig-2. Both were granted to the same contractor, ADNOC Drilling, rather than split between competing bidders.
• The figure: The 96.55 million dinars is a maximum combined ceiling for the two contracts together, according to the official gazette. The publication did not break out the value of each contract separately, leaving the split between Rig-1 and Rig-2 undisclosed.
• Why ADNOC won: The committee decided to grant both contracts to the Emirati company because it submitted the lowest prices, and because its bid conformed to the conditions, technical requirements and specifications set out in the tender documents, according to the gazette.
• The process: Before deciding, the higher purchasing committee reviewed a letter from Kuwait Oil Company requesting the award. The approval therefore came through Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's central procurement channel rather than being concluded directly by the operating subsidiary.
• What's missing: The official publication did not state the duration of either contract, nor the date operations are due to begin. No start-up schedule for Rig-1 or Rig-2 was announced alongside the award.
• The buyer: Kuwait Oil Company is the upstream arm responsible for exploration and production inside Kuwait, operating under state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, whose higher purchasing committee signed off on the two awards.
• The contractor: ADNOC Drilling is the drilling services arm of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Winning both Kuwaiti rig contracts extends its offshore activity beyond the United Arab Emirates and into a neighbouring Gulf producer's waters.
• The sourcing: The award was published in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm and carried by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai and by Times Kuwait on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Both outlets cite the same official publication as their source.

Background

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's higher purchasing committee is the body that signs off on major tenders for the state oil group's subsidiaries, including Kuwait Oil Company. Offshore rig supply contracts fall within its approval authority rather than being settled at subsidiary level.

Between the lines

Awarding both rigs to a single lowest bidder, on a bid the committee found compliant with the tender's technical specifications, indicates price was the deciding factor between qualified offers. With no contract duration or start date published, the 96.55 million dinar ceiling is currently the only public measure of the deal's scale.

What's next

Watch for Kuwait Oil Company or ADNOC Drilling to disclose contract durations, the per-rig values, and a mobilisation date for Rig-1 and Rig-2, none of which appeared in the official gazette notice.

Source: Al-Rai (citing official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm), Times Kuwait