ADNOC Drilling significantly grows H1 net profit by 34% to $379mn

First half EBITDA was $580 million, up 16% year-on-year, with a market-leading margin of 45.7%, as the company made exceptional progress on delivering further cost savings.

Year-on-year revenue growth was led by the Onshore segment, as ADNOC Drilling continues to enable ADNOC's programme to significantly grow production capacity. The company's Oilfield Services (OFS) segment also achieved strong year-on-year gains.

Second quarter revenue grew 11% year-on-year to $669 million, driven primarily by the Onshore and OFS segments. Q2 22 EBITDA increased by 7% from the previous quarter as it climbed to $300 million for the period. Q2 22 net profit grew 17% from the previous quarter and by 19% year-on-year, to $204 million.

Onshore revenue for H1 was $702 million, up 24% on H1 21, largely driven by new rigs joining the fleet. The second quarter revenue was $383 million, up 33% on Q2 21. Overall operating rig days and underlying revenue in Q2 22 were higher than in the prior corresponding period.

Offshore Jackup revenue for the first half was $288 million, broadly flat vs. the prior year. Q2 22 revenue was $144 million, down 8% vs Q2 21 due to the activity mix and delays in the replacement of rented rigs with owned units.

Also, Offshore Island's revenue for the first half was $101 million, similar to H1 21. Q2 22 revenue of $51 million was down 26% year-on-year due to accounting movements in the prior period.

The OFS segment performed well in H1 with revenue of $179 million, up 14% on H1 21, driven by higher activity from continued expansion, with healthy margin development. Q2 22 revenue was $91 million, up 5% year-on-year.

ADNOC Drilling reported a fleet utilisation rate of 98%1 for the half year to 30th June 2022.

The company's bold rig fleet expansion programme gained further momentum in H1 22, with eight rigs added to the fleet. Five Helmerick & Payne FlexRigs were added in Q1 22, and sale and purchase agreements were signed for three premium offshore jack-ups in Q2 22. The total value of these acquisitions forms part of the company's three-year capital expenditure guidance of $2.5-3 billion, as well as its strategic roadmap to grow the fleet to 122 rigs by the end of 2024.

In line with ADNOC Drilling's sustainable and progressive dividend policy, the Board of Directors announced an increase in the interim, half-year dividend of 5% to $341 million, 7.83 fils per ordinary share, in respect of the 2022 financial year, payable in the fourth quarter.

The growth in dividend reflects ADNOC Drilling's strong and visible future cash flow, while providing ample headroom to invest in long-term future growth.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, and Chairman of ADNOC Drilling, commented, "ADNOC Drilling has continued to make strong progress in 2022 delivering on its promises to continue growing the business and maximising returns for our shareholders. Excellent half-year results and successful strategic execution are testament to the vital role that the company is playing in enabling significant production capacity growth for ADNOC as well as the UAE's objective to achieve gas self-sufficiency.

"As part of the previously announced dividend policy, the Board is pleased to confirm the interim dividend per share will reflect a 5% increase to 7.83 fils, bringing the first payment of the fiscal year 2022 to $341 million."

Abdulrahman Abdullah Al Seiari, Chief Executive Officer of ADNOC Drilling, said, "These results were enabled by our clear strategic objectives, the commitment of our highly-skilled and dedicated workforce and our unwavering commitment to industry-leading health and safety standards. Our fleet expansion programme has gained real momentum and is central to our dynamic growth strategy. The rigs we have added to our fleet in H1 22 will support us in delivering on our resolute commitments to our shareholders, including ADNOC, as it works towards its production capacity targets and gas self-sufficiency for the UAE."

ADNOC Drilling's bold fleet expansion programme enables the company to support a growing number of world-scale projects in the UAE, as evidenced by a number of significant contract awards in recent weeks.

On 27th July, ADNOC Drilling was awarded $2 billion in contracts for offshore drilling units and Integrated Drilling Services (IDS) to support the delivery of ADNOC's Ghasha offshore gas mega project. On 5th August, the company confirmed the agreement of contracts to the value of an additional $3.4 billion for 8 high-specification premium jack-up rigs to support ADNOC Offshore drilling operations.