Offshore drilling contractor ARO Drilling, a joint venture between Aramco and Valaris, has taken delivery and held a naming ceremony for its second jack-up newbuild, the Kingdom 2.
The Kingdom 2 jack-up rig was built for ARO Drilling by International Maritime Industries (IMI), the largest shipyard in the MENA region, working in collaboration with an offshore energy engineering and construction services company Lamprell.
Designed to the Letourneau Super 116E Class standard, the jack-up drilling rig has been customized for the Arabian Gulf.
It can operate at water depths from 200 to 330 ft, with maximum drilling depth at 30,000 ft. The rig is capable of accommodating 120 people.
Kingdom 2 features a state-of-the-art drilling control and power management system that integrates all drilling equipment through a system designed and integrated by SLB Cameron to optimize overall performance.
It also boasts a mechanized drill floor with offline stand building and racking capabilities to enhance operational efficiency.
Following the final commissioning, the Kingdom 2 jack-up will be put to work for Aramco at Zuluf Field, ARO Drilling has confirmed.
Zuluf is an oil field located in the Arabian Gulf, approximately 240 km north of Dhahran, offshore Saudi Arabia.
According to Aramco, the Zuluf crude oil increment is in the engineering phase, and is expected to provide a central facility to process a total of 600 mbpd of crude oil from the Zuluf field by 2026. The facility will also be equipped to process associated gas, condensate, and produced water.
“Today marks a momentous day for ARO Drilling as we celebrate the naming ceremony of our latest achievement: the newly constructed jack-up offshore rig Kingdom 2. This event symbolizes the continuous of our ambitious endeavour to expand our fleet by an additional 20 rigs within the next decade,” ARO Drilling said.
This is the second jack-up newbuild developed as part of collaboration between Lamprell, IMI and ARO Drilling. The first unit, named Kingdom 1, was delivered in November 2023.
