RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ades Holding Co. continues to expand its regional footprint as it seals two contracts worth SR511 million ($136.2 million), highlighting its growing influence in the oil and gas sector. 

Ades, which specializes in providing drilling and intervention services, signed a contract valued at up to SR350 million with Total Energies to operate an offshore drilling platform in Qatar.  

The agreement includes a mandatory one-year period with an option to extend it for up to an additional 18 months, according to a bourse filing. 

Operations are slated to begin in the second half of 2024. The company emphasized that there are no related parties involved in this contract. 

This contract comes on the heels of April’s announcement, where Ades was awarded the responsibility to operate another offshore drilling platform by Total Energies in Qatar.  

This previous contract enables Ades to maintain its market presence robustly, as it will now operate three drilling platforms in the region.  

This expansion comes after the company’s strategic move to transfer its Emerald Driller platform to Indonesia.  

Moreover, Ades announced in a separate release that it was awarded a 21-month contract to operate an elevated platform in the Gulf of Suez.  

The company received a direct award letter from the Suez Oil Co, also known as SUCO, in Egypt, with operations expected to commence in the coming weeks. 

In a statement on Tadawul, the company disclosed that the contract is valued at SR161 million.  

This new engagement in Egypt is part of Ades’s broader strategy to reactivate its operations regionally. It follows recent contracts in Thailand and Qatar, bringing the total number of reactivated platforms to three out of the five that were recently suspended in Saudi Arabia. 

The publicly traded company saw a slight decrease in its stock price after its announcements.