MEOG: SNOC contracts Hilong for onshore drilling work

In late December Sharjah National Oil Corp. (SNOC) entered into a notable contractual agreement with Ocean Oil Service, a subsidiary of Hilong Holding Ltd. The company said the contract entails the drilling of up to seven wells, including firm and optional wells, as well as potential sidetracks and abandonment options. Hilong is set to commence the onshore drilling campaign for SNOC in the first quarter of 2025.

The contract signing ceremony, held at SNOC’s Head Office, was attended by the management teams of both companies. This agreement marks a milestone in Hilong’s strategic expansion within the Middle Eastern oil and gas services sector.

On its website, Hilong said its Hilong Oil Service’s UAE subsidiary had entered into a mid-to-long-term agreement for upstream drilling services with SNOC. It said “the collaboration focuses on delivering efficient, integrated, and advanced drilling solutions within the upstream services portfolio. The agreement includes the provision of state-of-the-art drilling equipment, highly specialised personnel, and comprehensive drilling operations and safety management services”.

The management of Hilong Oil Service UAE remarked: “This deepened cooperation with SNOC represents a critical advancement in Hilong’s sustained growth within the Middle Eastern market.”

Last year, SNOC announced the discovery of the Al Hadiba gas field at the Al Sajaa Industrial Area, southeast of Sharjah. The Sharjah Government Media Bureau highlighted that gas had been discovered in “promising economic quantities.” SNOC took several months to drill and complete the well, with testing expected to commence imminently.

SNOC is responsible for the exploration, production, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of Sharjah’s energy assets. In addition to the discovery of the Mahani gas field in 2020, SNOC operates three onshore fields, a gas processing complex, two hydrocarbon liquid storage and export terminals, and a network of flow lines and production pipelines.

In 2021, in collaboration with its Italian partner Eni, SNOC announced the commencement of gas production at Mahani. The Mahani-1 well, located in Sharjah’s Area B, is part of a 50:50 deal signed in January 2019, with SNOC as the operator. The 264-square-kilometre concession includes both the existing Sajaa gas and condensate field and a known but unappraised deep gas discovery.

Mahani was the first gas discovery in Sharjah since 1983, with the Mahani-1 well drilled to a depth of 14,597 feet (5,000 metres) and test flows running at a rate of 50mn cubic feet (1.42mn cubic metres) per day of gas and associated condensate.

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