Adnoc Drilling has signed an initial five-year agreement with Abu Dhabi-based clean energy company Masdar to explore partnerships and investments in geothermal energy. The two companies will jointly evaluate the potential of Adnoc Drilling to provide geothermal drilling services. Abdulrahman AlSeiari, CEO of Adnoc Drilling said. Geothermal energy has huge potential globally, and energy developers are challenged to ensure cost-effective well delivery is done in a smart and innovative manner.

Our leading integrated drilling services offering brings advanced and efficient drilling and completion technologies from start to finish, giving Masdar the potential to generate clean geothermal energy to cool thousands of homes and offices. Geothermal energy uses heat generated within the Earth's core to provide a constant source of energy, unlike the intermittent nature of solar or wind energy. Geothermal power plants also have a high capacity factor, which means they can run at maximum power for longer periods of time.

Masdar has invested in PGE, a unit of Indonesia's state utility Pertamina. The investment marks Masdar's entry into the Southeast Asian country's geothermal energy sector, which is second only to the United States. Mohamed Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said the agreement with AdnocDrilling strengthens his company's commitment to unlocking clean energy opportunities across a broad range of technologies.

With Masdar's recent addition of geothermal energy to our growing clean energy portfolio, we are delighted that geothermal energy is playing an important role in helping to drive the global energy transition," he said.

According to the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency, geothermal power generation is gradually increasing at a rate of about 3.5% per year, with a total installed capacity of about 15.96 GW by 2021.

However, geothermal energy still accounts for just 0.5% of the world's total installed renewable energy capacity for power generation, heating and cooling, the agency said in a February report. Masdar is currently active in more than 40 countries and has invested or committed to invest in projects worth more than US$30 billion.

The company continues to expand its clean energy portfolio, setting an ambitious goal to increase its global renewable energy capacity to at least 100 GW by 2030. The lion's share of this capacity will come from wind and solar technologies. In addition to the original goal, Masdar also seeks to develop more than 200 GW of renewable energy.

AdnocDrilling has been providing integrated drilling services to sister companies Adnoc Onshore and Adnoc Offshore since 2019. In 2022, the company said it was considering expanding within the Gulf Cooperation Council, as drilling activity picked up following a surge in crude prices.Editor/XingWentao