The third-quarter results season for the big oilfield service companies has given the clearest picture yet of where Gulf drilling stands after a disrupted year. The message is mixed but useful: rigs and well work in the Middle East picked up again between July and September, while the flow of new project awards across the GCC slowed sharply. For anyone who supplies wells, plants and contractors in the region, both trends matter.
Activity is coming back
SLB reported on 23 October that its Middle East business grew 13% compared with the second quarter. Chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said the business grew "despite late-quarter disruptions", and the company noted that some Gulf countries saw renewed disruption in the final weeks of the quarter. Middle East revenue was still 12% lower than a year earlier.
The detail that stands out for chemical buyers is in SLB's Well Construction division. Its revenue rose 5% in the quarter, which the company said was led by strong drilling fluids sales and more drilling measurement work, driven by higher drilling activity in the Middle East.
Baker Hughes, reporting on 27 October, described "growing momentum across international markets led by a meaningful improvement in the Middle East". Its Middle East and Asia oilfield revenue rose 3% from the previous quarter.
Rig numbers point the same way. Baker Hughes' international count for September, as reported by Petroleum News, put the Middle East at 508 rigs, the largest of any region. The international total reached 1,122, up 20 from August and up 38 from a year earlier.
The contracts behind the rigs
The new awards disclosed this month are long-term well programmes rather than one-off jobs:
- Saudi Aramco awarded SLB four integrated well construction contracts covering more than 450 wells over three years, with an option to extend by up to two years.
- Kuwait Oil Company awarded SLB a five-year reservoir characterisation contract for unconventional reservoirs.
- Petroleum Development Oman awarded SLB a five-year integrated fracturing contract for onshore Block 6.
- PDO also awarded two five-year hoist services contracts to the Omani firms Abraj Energy Services and Shaleem Petroleum Company, MEED reported on 30 October.
- In the UAE, ADNOC is running SLB's real-time drilling operations system across more than 120 rigs.
Integrated contracts of this kind place end-to-end well construction with one service company for several years. Demand for the materials that go down the hole then follows the well count in these programmes, and many purchasing decisions sit with the integrated contractor and its local supply chain.
New project awards have slowed
The wider projects market tells a different story. Kamco's GCC projects update, reported by EnterpriseAM on 14 October, put third-quarter contract awards across the GCC at USD 47.4 billion, down 37.2% on a year earlier and the lowest quarter in Kamco's recent records. Every GCC country posted a double-digit fall. Awards for the first nine months still came to about USD 204 billion, slightly ahead of the same period last year.
Within that, the mix shifted towards hydrocarbons. Saudi gas awards rose 80.1% to USD 6.9 billion in the quarter, while Saudi oil awards fell to USD 460 million. ADNOC accounted for nearly 40% of UAE awards, at USD 6.2 billion. Awards in Oman fell to USD 76 million. Kamco linked the slowdown to the delayed effect of the regional conflict on energy exports and infrastructure.
What it means for GCC operators and suppliers
Taken together, the quarter suggests three things for buyers of drilling and production chemicals.
- Drilling is recovering before new construction does. Rising rig counts and drilling fluids sales mean steady or rising demand for weighting materials, brines and cementing chemicals, even while fewer new plants and pipelines are being awarded.
- Gas is leading in Saudi Arabia. With gas taking a growing share of Saudi awards while oil awards fell, suppliers should expect demand to follow the gas well programmes and plan stock and specifications around them.
- Supply security is still a live risk. Baker Hughes lists Middle East conflict and its effect on the Strait of Hormuz among its risks, and SLB's outlook assumes that the conflict does not materially escalate. Operators and contractors with long well programmes have good reason to hold more of their critical materials close to the wellsite and to favour suppliers who produce in the region.
Both companies expect more growth as Middle East activity normalises, and SLB sees further upside in 2027 as activity in the region recovers. If that holds, reliable local delivery of bulk materials will matter as much as rig availability.
Where Blue Line fits
Blue Line Industries manufactures API 13A barite, bentonite, calcium chloride and potassium chloride in Abu Dhabi, and is a major supplier of oilfield production and cementing chemicals. Through Blue Line Logistics it offers hazmat-certified warehousing, tankers, ISO tanks, silos and port operations.
Sources
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000087347/000119312526429435/d151271dex99.htm
- https://www.worldoil.com/news/2026/10/23/slb-q3-growth-spans-all-regions-as-deepwater-middle-east-rebound/
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001701605/000170160526000033/earningsreleaseex991093020.htm
- https://www.petroleumnews.com/story/2026/10/11/e-and-p/baker-hughes-us-rig-count-down-1-to-598/50438.html
- https://www.meed.com/pdo-awards-pair-of-hoist-services-contracts
- https://enterpriseam.com/menaplus/2026/10/14/gcc-project-awards-hold-steady-at-usd-204-bn-for-9m-even-as-3q-collapses/