ADES acquires Saipem's Saudi drilling unit for $285 million

Published: 2026-06-26T04:00:00.000Z

The Saudi drilling sector keeps consolidating around a single dominant name, and ADES Holding has just added another piece. The Saudi listed company has signed a binding agreement to acquire Saudi Arabian Saipem, the shallow water drilling subsidiary of Italy's Saipem, in a deal worth roughly $285 million.

The Saudi drilling sector keeps consolidating around a single dominant name, and ADES Holding has just added another piece to its growing empire. The Saudi listed oil and gas drilling services company has signed a binding agreement to acquire Saudi Arabian Saipem, the shallow water drilling subsidiary of Italy's Saipem, in a deal valued at roughly $285 million, or about 1.07 billion riyals. The transaction, executed through ADES' indirect subsidiary ADES Saudi Limited, hands the company five jack-up drilling rigs and deepens its grip on one of the world's largest offshore drilling markets. Completion is expected in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. The substance of what changes hands is worth detailing, because the assets come with revenue already attached. The acquisition includes three owned rigs, the Perro Negro 7, 8 and 10, alongside two leased units, the Perro Negro 11 and 13. Four of those rigs are currently working in Saudi Arabia, while the Perro Negro 10 operates under a charter in Mexico, which means the deal also marks ADES' entry into a brand new market. Crucially, the rigs are tied to existing operating contracts, so this is not a speculative fleet expansion but the purchase of working, cash generating assets. The deal adds around 3.8 billion riyals, roughly $1 billion, to ADES' backlog, the kind of forward revenue visibility that drilling companies prize. The strategic logic is clean on both sides of the table, which is what makes deals like this happen. For ADES, the acquisition fits a clearly stated playbook of buying high quality, already contracted assets that contribute revenue immediately rather than betting on future utilization. Chief executive Mohamed Farouk highlighted the average fleet age of 10.4 years and the limited integration risk, since ADES already operates extensively in Saudi Arabia and knows the market intimately. Once closed, ADES will run a fleet of 88 offshore units, 51 of them premium, cementing its status as a national champion in the kingdom's drilling sector. For Saipem, the sale is about focus, since the Italian group is deliberately retreating from shallow water work to concentrate on higher margin deepwater and harsh environment drilling, and the proceeds will fund that strategic pivot. The timing reflects an improving market backdrop. Farouk pointed to easing regional tensions and the return of previously suspended rigs across the GCC, with Qatar already resuming all its idled units and Saudi Arabia showing early signs of doing the same. After a stretch of suspended contracts that hurt drillers across the region, that recovery improves visibility and strengthens the case for expanding capacity now. The regional read fits a broader Gulf pattern of asset consolidation. Across the Middle East, drilling and energy services are concentrating into fewer, larger regional players as international contractors reshape their portfolios and exit non core markets. ADES, fresh off its acquisition of Shelf Drilling, is buying up those divested assets and turning itself into the dominant offshore driller serving Saudi Aramco, a clear example of how Gulf companies are taking ownership of the infrastructure that powers their own energy sectors.