Saudi Arabia’s ADES Holding Company has taken steps in its international expansion strategy by securing a new offshore drilling contract in Cameroon. The agreement, valued at US $34m, was signed with Addax Petroleum, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned energy giant Sinopec Group.
The contract marks ADES’s formal entry into the Cameroonian market, bringing its total number of operating countries to 13. The deal covers an initial period of 12 months, with an option to extend for another year. The company will deploy its advanced Admarine 510 offshore platform to execute the drilling and extraction operations.
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Regional goals
Dr. Mohamed Farouk, CEO of ADES, highlighted the strategic importance of the agreement, noting that Cameroon offers a stable operating environment that aligns with the company’s broader regional goals. He emphasized that the contract not only deepens ADES’s presence in West Africa but also strengthens its collaboration with reputable international partners such as Addax Petroleum.
The operations will focus on Cameroon’s offshore Mokoko Abana fields and the Padouk-1X discovery area, both managed by Addax. These fields are part of a wider effort by the Cameroonian government to attract investment and expertise in offshore oil and gas development.
ADES, headquartered in Riyadh, operates a diverse fleet consisting of 91 drilling platforms, including 48 offshore rigs and 40 onshore rigs. The company’s global operations are supported by a workforce of more than 8,000 employees, reinforcing its capacity to execute large-scale projects in challenging environments. This latest development follows ADES’s recent expansion into Nigeria just five months ago, underlining the company’s accelerating momentum in the African energy sector.