Energy technology company, Baker Hughes, has entered a deal with Aramco to expand its integrated underbalanced coiled tubing drilling (UBCTD) operations across Saudi Arabia’s natural gas fields.
The multi-year agreement secures scope for current UBCTD fleet expansion from four to 10 units for re-entry and greenfield drilling projects across fields in the Kingdom. The integrated solutions will cover every aspect of the UBCTD operations, including coiled tubing drilling units, underbalanced drilling services, operational management, well construction, and geosciences to scale and accelerate their access to gas from new and established fields.
“This project is the result of nearly two decades of successful collaboration between Baker Hughes and Aramco, which have set the standard for UBCTD,” said Amerino Gatti, executive vice president of Oilfield Services & Equipment at Baker Hughes. “By combining advanced technologies with a holistic, integrated approach, we can support Aramco to more efficiently access bypassed and hard-to-reach hydrocarbons and produce the resources that help the Kingdom thrive. This expansion sets the stage for further innovation in UBCTD, which has the potential to shape how oil and gas are produced around the world.”
The integrated approach to UBCTD includes CoilTrak bottomhole assembly (BHA) system and enhanced reservoir analysis driven by GaffneyCline energy advisory. The combined effect of these technologies and insights result in smooth navigation of the subsurface environment during horizontal drilling and re-entry operations. These, backed by holistic project management services, will lead to enhanced production efficiency, speed and safety while mitigating reservoir damage when compared to traditional development methods.
Work under the expanded agreement is scheduled to commence in 2026.
Dubai-based offshore vessel operator Astro Offshore, part of the Adani Group, has reached a major milestone by adding its 50th vessel to the fleet.
The company has welcomed the Astro Achernar, an advanced 88-metre DP2 diesel-electric multipurpose support vessel (MPSV), designed to enhance its offshore support and subsea operations.
The newly acquired Astro Achernar comes equipped with accommodation for 222 personnel and a 100-tonne active heave-compensated (AHC) crane, boosting the firm’s capabilities across complex offshore projects.
“This milestone represents more than just a number, it’s a reflection of the trust our clients place in us and the dedication of our team across every level of the organisation,” said Mark Humphreys, CEO of Astro Offshore. “With the addition of Astro Achernar, we continue to strengthen our fleet, expand our capabilities, and position Astro as a trusted partner in delivering safe, efficient, and versatile offshore support.”
The expansion reflects a period of exceptional growth for Astro Offshore, which has doubled its fleet from 25 to 50 vessels in just 12 months. Over the past six weeks alone, the company has added seven new vessels, with the Astro Achernar marking the eighth in this rapid phase of development.
This strategic growth highlights Astro Offshore’s commitment to delivering high-performance solutions and maintaining its reputation as one of the region’s most reliable offshore support providers. With a focus on safety, innovation, and operational excellence, the company continues to strengthen its position in the global offshore market.
Malaysian offshore services provider Vantris Energy, formerly known as Sapura Energy, has signed a significant long-term agreement with Saudi Aramco to support its offshore operations.
According to a recent Bursa Malaysia filing, the agreement covers the provision of diving support vessels, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and the deployment of highly skilled diving and technical personnel. These resources will assist Aramco in a range of offshore activities, ensuring safe and efficient operations.
The contract is set to commence on 1 May 2027 and will continue until 30 April 2034. It includes services such as inspection, survey, photography, non-destructive testing, structural maintenance, and repair work. While financial terms were not disclosed, the deal is expected to make a positive contribution to Vantris Energy’s earnings and further strengthen its order book.
“This achievement validates our strategic direction to strengthen our operations and maintenance portfolio while expanding beyond Malaysian waters,” said Muhammad Zamri Jusoh CEO of Vantris Energy.
This agreement marks another step in Vantris Energy’s strategy to grow its presence in the global offshore services market.
The Qatar BH EPIC EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) project is set to take off as Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd. (COOEC) has kick-started meetings for the project development in Tianjin and Singapore.
This marks the full-scale launch of the largest international offshore oil and gas EPC project contracted by a Chinese company to date. Playing an important role in developing high-quality international oil and gas collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative, the project will take China-Qatar energy cooperation to new heights.
Situated in the Bul Hanine (BH) oilfield in the Qatari waters of the Persian Gulf, about 100 kms east of the country's coastline, the project will be developed by QatarEnergy with substantial investments. It has a maximum water depth of approximately 40 meters.
Beyond its record-breaking contract value, the project also stands out for its unprecedented scope and technical complexity. It includes more than 60 offshore oil-and-gas facilities, as well as 40 subsea pipelines and cables, and covers the modification of existing platforms and the decommissioning of obsolete facilities.
The full-scale launch of the BH EPIC project will deepen energy cooperation between China and Qatar, and play an important role in advancing energy partnerships among The Belt and Road countries.
Expro has officially completed its acquisition of Coretrax, marking a significant milestone in the growth of both businesses.
The acquisition will allow Expro to expand its portfolio of cost-effective, technology-enable well construction, well intervention and integrity solutions, while Coretrax will be able to accelerate its technology application globally.
John Fraser, CEO of Coretrax, highlighted how this acquisition marks the start of a “brand-new chapter” for the company by uniting with Expro to expand its capabilities: “Completing this agreement means both organisations working in sync to take on the most complex well challenges. We are proud of our innovation-led approach, strong customer base and performance history as we join forces with Expro to create greater value for customers around the globe.”
Michael Jardon, Chief Executive Officer at Expro, added, “We expect the acquisition to accelerate the growth of Coretrax’s innovative, high value-adding drilling optimisation, well integrity and production enhancing technology solutions by leveraging Expro’s global operating footprint.”
As the oil and gas industry is increasingly seeking sustainability, well intervention remains an obvious choice.
According to Jenny Feng, Supply Chain Analyst, Rystad Energy, operators will look to "ramp up production from existing fields, and well interventions will be a vital piece of the puzzle. As a quick, efficient, and cost-effective method of maximising existing resources, interventions are going to be a hot topic in the years to come." As per the research body’s prediction last year, spending on interventions stands close to nearly US$58bn. With sustainability the focal point, this amount sets the bar for a surge in the coming years as the number of wells ready for intervention is projected to reach 17% by 2027, equating to a total 260,000 wells globally.
Middle East and North Africa's (MENA) eagerness to take up intervention activities is well evident as companies such as Coretrax is showing increased interest in the fossil fuel-driven region. “The Middle East is a key growth area for Coretrax... As operators remain focused on maximising recovery efficiently and sustainably, our expandable technology is ideally placed to support this demand," said John Fraser, Coretrax CEO, while marking the company’s first deployment of ReLineWL straddles in 2022 for a major Saudi operator.
In another multi-year contract in the Middle East signed as recently as October 2023, the well integrity and production optimisation leaser will be delivering production enhancement across a multi-well campaign. It will also be supplying expandable tubulars to support brownfield optimisation. With advanced tools such as ReLineMNS and ReLineHYD expandable casing patches under the brand name, the company will effectively help isolate trouble zones and stimulate production on the operator’s existing wells.
Companies from the region are leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML), and coming up with groundbreaking digital innovations in the intervention space. AIQ's autonomous well control solution called RoboWell that has been deployed by ADNOC in its North East Bab (NEB) assets remains one such instance. Expro, which is an active player in the MENA region, has come up with a tool called Galea, which is a completely automated well intervention system that can perform a variety of slickline operations, offering easy alternative to conventional methods.
The Middle East and North Africa Well Intervention Outlook attempts to reflect on these industry developments, as OWI MENA 2024 gears up to return in Abu Dhabi from 17-18 September.
Well integrity and production optimisation specialist Coretrax has strengthened its portfolio after acquiring a complementary suite of well intervention technology from Wireline Drilling Technologies.
The significant investment has expanded Coretrax’s offering. Since completing the acquisition, the firm has signed a global route to market agreement with a supermajor to support its well intervention requirements internationally and secured additional work in the Middle East with an existing client.
The company has already integrated the new assets and software, which include wireline pump units, drilling units and tractor modules into its existing technology portfolio. The additional equipment boosts Coretrax’s current well integrity offering, enabling the business to access and address damaged wellbores, and support highly deviated wells more efficiently.
John Fraser, CEO at Coretrax, said, “This investment demonstrates our continued drive to enhance and improve our services, positioning Coretrax as a full turnkey solution for
all wellbore entry and remediation operations. The additional technologies have integrated seamlessly into our portfolio of tools and are supporting several new contracts including a global supermajor and an ongoing long-term project in the Middle East.
“As the industry remains focused on extracting maximum recovery from existing wells, demand for wireline applications has increased as operators realise the cost and sustainability
benefits they bring across well intervention, frac plug drilling, well conveyancing and lateral drilling. Our recent investment will undoubtedly open up new markets for the business and we are excited about the opportunities this will bring.”
Welltec sees great prospects in the Middle East for its recently launched Welltec Expandable Anchor (WEA).
The Welltec Expandable Anchor (WEA) was a key focus at the company’s stand at ADIPEC 2023, where Completion, Intervention, and New Energy & Climate Technology solutions were showcased, all with optimisation and efficiency as core design principles.
Engineered and rigorously tested over the past couple of years, the WEA is a 4-in-1 life-of-well completion system for anchoring in cased hole. Firmly rooted in proven metal expandable packer technology, it provides industry-leading reliability, efficiency, and flexibility, as explained by Kevin Wood, Sales Director for Completions in the Middle East.
“The WEA has three key benefits. It is reliable, with essentially no moving parts; it’s basically a metal expandable sleeve that is secured onto a casing. It is efficient, as it is slimline and full bore, so operators can circulate fluids or cement at high rates compared to other products. It can also be rotated when run in hole making for efficient installation in deviated and challenging wells. And it is flexible; one particular size of WEA can cover multiple casing grades and we can also add or take away modular parts, depending on the environment in the well.”
The product is available in a full range of sizes, with key completion applications as a liner hanger, tieback liner, inner-string packer, and casedhole plug. All versions of the product are qualified to the API 19LH V1 standard and are fully compatible with Welltec’s Metal Expandable Packer (MEP) portfolio.
The WEA clearly addresses a market need, as illustrated by several installations taking place immediately after qualification, with a requirement from one Middle East operator for product delivery within eight weeks. Facilitated by its in-house design and manufacturing capabilities, Welltec was able to deliver the solution in seven weeks.
Prospects in the region are very encouraging, Wood said, “ADIPEC has been big for us; we signed a two-year call-off contract with ADNOC Onshore for the WEA technology which can address several of the challenges they face on some wells.
“The products covered under the call-off agreement are for the prevention of sustained casing pressure – this is annular casing pressure that can makes its way back to surface, a challenge which has cost the industry around US$75bn since 2009,” he continued. “Around 35% of wells globally exhibit gas pressure in the annulus, and the only way to deal with that is to flare it off, or vent it off, both of which are harmful to the environment. That’s where this anchor and our technology come in. It’s a life-of-well solution, providing a barrier in the well. It’s important that when a well comes to the end of its life, it is decommissioned correctly. The problem with cement is that over the life of the well it expands and contracts, which creates leaks through the cement. Using the Welltec Annular Barrier, which the anchor is incorporated with, gives you a fully qualified barrier that you can abandon above, thereby future-proofing the well for abandonment.”
This in effect helps reduce emissions. The emissions reduction angle certainly chimes with ADIPEC’s central theme of decarbonisation. Wood stressed the company’s commitment to the energy transition, which is “in our DNA – it’s not just a buzzword for us”. He explained that Welltec is playing a key role in Project Greensand, which involves the long-term storage of CO2 by injecting it into depleted reservoirs in Denmark. To support this, and similar projects, Welltec’s New Energy & Climate Technology segment has already constructed an advanced testing facility in Denmark that enables full-scale downhole components to be tested against real-world CO2 well-type environments including high pressures, temperatures, and flow rates.
“The test loop and background to Project Greensand have opened up a lot of conversations here, especially with COP28 coming up,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Welltec is active in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the latter of which provides a manufacturing hub supporting regional activity, and keeping lead times to a minimum. Wood commented that this has been a “huge success”, and expansion of the hub is on the cards. “We can not only deliver quickly compared to our peers, we can also manufacture in the region.”
As far as future product development goes, Welltec has a couple of technologies in the field-trial phase. One is the Isealate Springblade Patch, a unique relining and repair solution for downhole applications. The first in-field deployment successfully took place in Europe in October.
“We also provide a service that can radially expand an existing casing string: the Saturn Expander. This can be utilised in wells where there is casing pressure,” said Wood.
“It expands the casing, compresses the cement on the outside, and cures any microannuli or leaks you might have.
“These solutions are coming to fruition now, and there is a lot of interest in the region, particularly given that many wells here suffer from casing pressure.”
SLB, a global technology company, has released its Q2 2023 results revealing the part intervention and stimulation activities are playing in the business growth.
The company reported a revenue of US$8.1bn, representing a 20% increase year-on-year. SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch commented, “I am very pleased with our second-quarter results, which reflect significant growth in the international markets, particularly in the Middle East & Asia, and offshore. North America revenue also grew sequentially benefiting from our agility across the most resilient basins and market segments, although the rig count in the area declined. As the upcycle continues to unfold, we are excited about the opportunities for our business, with international- and offshore-led growth fueling strong pretax segment operating margin expansion and cash flows as highlighted in this quarter’s results.
“Compared to the same period a year ago, international revenue grew 21%, outpacing North America which increased 14%. Year on year, revenue grew 20% and pretax segment operating margin expanded 240 basis points (bps), representing the tenth straight quarter that we have increased our pretax segment operating margin year on year. This was driven by the international markets, where we posted our highest year-on-year incremental margin in the last three years, demonstrating the earnings power of our operations in these markets.”
Breaking this down, the company noted that reservoir performance revenue grew 9% sequentially due, primarily, to increased intervention, stimulation and evaluation activity internationally. Profitability improved mainly due to higher activity and improved operating leverage across intervention and stimulation with new technology deployment contributing to margin expansion, particularly in Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Europe & Africa and Mexico.
The Middle East & Asia was a particularly strong-performing region for the company with a 10% increase sequentially driven by double-digit revenue growth in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, China and India. SLB attributed to higher drilling, intervention, stimulation and evaluation activity here, both on land and offshore. Saudi Arabia was a particular hotspot for higher stimulation and intervention activity. Reservoir Performance grew 23% year-on-year, primarily down to higher intervention and stimulation activity led by the Middle East & Asia.
The company also highlighted how it had experienced increased intervention and stimulation activity in Argentina which helped offset the lower revenue recorded in Mexico.
This year’s OWI Middle East and North Africa (OWI MENA 2023) conference promises to be grand affair as sights are set to broaden the format and shine the spotlight towards operators in the Gulf and North Africa equally.
With the tagline of this year’s conference being ‘future-proof your intervention projects to exceed environmental targets and optimise well programmes by utilising transformative digital and downhole technologies’, OWI MENA is the only place to offer key learnings to the well intervention community in order to the build the best roadmap for future growth.
Constantly evolving and growing, OWI MENA 2023 boasts the largest roster of speakers to date, with 20 operator speakers set to lead discussions on key topics such as market status, sustainable well programmes, well integrity, innovative technologies and end of life. Speakers include representatives from ADNOC, Shell, bp, Aramco, and many more.
After taking on board client feedback, there is a huge appetite within the community to hear from North African operators, and this year there is a dedicated spotlight session for the region. OWI MENA 2023 will also exhibit two networking sessions, three breakout workshops and more than 12 demos in the Innovative Technology Showcase Hall in order to further promote collaboration between delegates. 40% of attendance will be from major, independent or national operators, as well as 35 % from expert technology providers, meaning there is ample opportunity to expand individual networks.
For more information and session details, the full brochure can be downloaded here. Any questions regarding the conference please reach out to Rachael Brand at
Despite geopolitical developments such as the fresh Covid-19 wave in China and the outbreak of war in eastern Europe, there are positive indications that an assured oil and gas demand coupled with a stable oil price are setting the stage for a prosperous future for the Middle East’s well intervention industry.
From the explosion of Covid-19 in early 2020 to the Autumn of 2022, global uncertainty unsettled the stability of the oil and gas industry and led to wide fluctuations for the oil price. Within this period, the price ranged from as low as US$21.44 (WTI) to as high as US$122.11 per barrel (WTI) before settling at around the US$80 mark at the end of 2022. As the industry heads deeper into the new year, many commentators are bullish that, partly due to cuts to production by OPEC+, the oil price will stabilise and could even surpass the US$100 mark once again – Morgan Stanley, for instance, has forecasted the Brent oil price to hit as high as US$110. More conservatively, the EIA has suggested the Brent crude oil spot price will average at US$92, which is still a healthy number for those working within the industry.
The EIA has also indicated that while oil demand will remain lacklustre in Q1 2023, it will begin to regain meaningful momentum in Q2 2023 and is likely to go beyond 2019 levels in the process. From a longer-term perspective, OPEC’s 2022 World Outlook 2045 has identified fossil fuel’s continued prominent role within the energy industry for the next two decades and forecasts oil retaining a 29% share in the global energy mix by 2045 with gas holding 24%.
These trends spell happy reading for the oil and gas companies operating within the Middle East and North African region who will have to continue working to increase oil production over the years to meet blossoming demand. However, the environmental concerns have not passed them by and most operators within the region are also incorporating stringent climate objectives to help mitigate their emission output.
So how will these organisations balance the tightrope of greater production and less climate impact? Well, while a number of initiatives are being pursued to help reduce emissions to justify further drilling, one answer lies in well intervention which offers production rate enhancement without the need for further wells to come online. Indeed, with the oil price looking so healthy, there is expectations that the region’s intervention market will rapidly grow over the short- to medium-term as operators have the cash to explore the option. There are more than 10,000 offshore wells throughout the region (on top of the onshore well count that is much higher), according to Rystad, and these have an average well life of 16-21 years, above the global average of 10-15 years. Well intervention, which offers the opportunity to revamp the production rates of ageing, flagging wells, is therefore emerging as an attractive solution to tick all boxes.
Read the full, free-to-read report, including an exploration of the factors shaping business objectives from those operating within the well intervention market.
Thunder Cranes, a leading provider of portable, modular, offshore rental cranes with a dynamic lift capacity ranging from 2 to 60 tons, has re-opened its operations in the Middle East with a base in the United Arab Emirates.
The company’s temporary installation cranes are designed to be versatile and adaptable, with a number of tie-down scenarios, on-deck placement configurations, and boom-length options to choose from.
The cranes allow clients to efficiently and cost-effectively support P&A, well intervention, facility engineering and decommissioning jobs, without compromising safety, time, and performance.
Previously Thunder Cranes had operated in the region with a base in Dubai from 2009 to 2019. The newly re-opened office and yard facility will enable Thunder Cranes to more effectively serve the UAE and Middle East moving forwards.
Dinesh Arumugam, CEO of Thunder Cranes, said, “As a market-leading provider of portable-modular offshore rental cranes, Thunder Cranes is committed to helping customers in the UAE and across the region with cost-effective and efficient lifting solutions to support offshore projects.”
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