Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, announced that it has received an award from Aramco to broaden its integrated underbalanced coiled tubing drilling (UBCTD) operations throughout Saudi Arabia’s natural gas fields.
Under the multi-year arrangement, Baker Hughes plans to grow its UBCTD fleet from four to 10 units. The UBCTD expansion will back both re-entry and new drilling projects across several fields in the Kingdom. The company will deliver fully integrated solutions that cover every aspect of the UBCTD process, including coiled tubing drilling units, underbalanced drilling services, operational management, well construction, and geosciences. This approach aims to expand and accelerate Aramco’s access to gas resources from both new and mature fields.
“This project is the result of nearly two decades of successful collaboration between Baker Hughes and Aramco, which have set the standard for UBCTD,” said Amerino Gatti, executive vice president of Oilfield Services & Equipment at Baker Hughes. “By combining advanced technologies with a holistic, integrated approach, we can support Aramco to more efficiently access bypassed and hard-to-reach hydrocarbons and produce the resources that help the Kingdom thrive. This expansion sets the stage for further innovation in UBCTD, which has the potential to shape how oil and gas are produced around the world.”
Baker Hughes’ integrated UBCTD offering incorporates the CoilTrak™ bottomhole assembly (BHA) system and enhanced reservoir analysis through GaffneyCline™ energy advisory. Together, these tools provide operators with a clearer understanding of subsurface conditions during horizontal drilling and re-entry operations. When combined with full project management, these solutions are meant to raise efficiency, speed up operations, and improve safety, while also helping reduce reservoir damage compared with traditional drilling methods.
The UBCTD expansion agreement extends Baker Hughes’ long-established role in Saudi Arabia’s UBCTD market, which it entered back in 2008. The company has maintained strong health, safety, and environment (HSE) practices and steady operational performance with its four existing UBCTD units in the Kingdom. Work under the expanded agreement is set to begin in 2026.