Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has awarded contracts for more than 86 drilling rigs, Arabic-language Kuwaiti newspaper Alanba reported. The deal has a total value of $1.3bn, KOC CEO Jamal Jaafar told the local news outlet.Â
The contracts were reportedly awarded to local firms and Chinese, American and Italian companies, and 30 rigs have already been installed. Although he did not confirm the bid winners, he told Alanba that Schlumberger, Saipem, Sinopec, Trinidad Drilling, KC Deutag and United Precision Drilling were among the 12 prequalified.
The contract is a three-year lease with an extension option, and Jaafar noted it was part of KOC’s strategy to produce 3.65mn barrels of oil per day.
