Sharjah National Oil Awards SLB Expanded Drilling Deal for Moveyied and Hadiba Gas Fields

The work, due to begin in 2027, covers new development phases at Moveyied, which SNOC uses for gas storage, and at the newly developed Hadiba gas field. SNOC said the project is intended to make Sharjah's gas supply more resilient. SLB will handle integrated project management and deliver the coiled tubing drilling services. Neither company disclosed the value of the contract.

The award follows SNOC's first integrated underbalanced coiled tubing drilling campaign at Moveyied in 2024, which the corporation said exceeded its targets for both drilling performance and production, delivering more productive wells and greater operating efficiency at lower cost. That campaign involved horizontal re-drilling of wells and upgrades to the field's infrastructure.

In underbalanced drilling, pressure inside the well is kept below the pressure of the reservoir, which stops drilling fluids from damaging the rock formation and allows multi-branch well sections to be drilled into high-quality reservoir rock. At Moveyied, SNOC said, the technique speeds up both the injection of gas into storage and its withdrawal; at Hadiba it is meant to raise gas well productivity.

The agreement was signed by Khamis Al Mazrouei, SNOC's chief executive, and Dany Rahhal, general manager at SLB.

"Having exceeded our drilling and production targets, we are pleased to continue our partnership with SLB on a larger scope," Al Mazrouei said, adding that the next phase builds on that experience to get the most from SNOC's assets and strengthen Sharjah's energy security.

Rahhal said the first campaign had shown the value coiled tubing underbalanced drilling can bring to these reservoirs, and that the wider scope would let SLB apply its drilling technology to both gas storage and field development.

The relationship dates back to November 2022, when SNOC awarded SLB a framework agreement at ADIPEC for its underbalanced coiled tubing drilling project at Moveyied. That earlier deal covered up to four wells, with an option to extend the project to two years. SNOC has used the technique since 2003, when it became the first operator in the Middle East to employ it, at Sharjah's Sajaa field.