Keel laying for third out of 20 planned jack-ups done, with fourth rig in the pipeline

November 25, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Aside from a deal to build a fourth jack-up in a series of 20 planned newbuild Saudi-operated and manufactured offshore rigs, which has been signed by International Maritime Industries (IMI) and ARO Drilling, a 50/50 joint venture between Valaris and Aramco, a keel laying ceremony has been held for a third jack-up in the same series, which ARO intends to deploy to meet Aramco’s drilling demands.

Aramco and ARO are building the Kingdom 3 jack-up rig at the International Maritime Industries shipyard, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Lamprell, Bahri, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, which was selected to build the rigs, based on a design developed in collaboration with GustoMSC and Lamprell. Seatrium won a tender to supply equipment and a license for the rig in February 2025.

Keel laying of the Kingdom 3 jack-up rig; Source: IMI

“With pride and honor, we announce the official keel laying of the Kingdom 3 jack-up offshore drilling rig! This marks a historic milestone for the ongoing project to manufacture the first offshore drilling jack-up rig in Saudi Arabia,” underlined IMI.

This move follows the shipyard’s agreement with ARO for the construction of a new offshore jack-up rig, Kingdom 4, which was inked at the Saudi Maritime & Logistics Congress in Dammam.

Wail Al-Jaafari, Chairman of the Board at IMI, emphasized: “The commencement of construction of Kingdom 4 demonstrates the continued strength of our partnership with ARO and reflects our strategic commitment to building world-class offshore capabilities within the Kingdom.

“This project further accelerates the development of a robust maritime supply chain while advancing Saudi Arabia’s ambitions for global leadership in the sector as part of Vision 2030.”