Arabian Drilling Company (Arabian Drilling) has secured multiple contracts from oil and gas major Saudi Aramco for ten additional land rigs.

The five-year contracts, which are worth SR3bn ($810m), are for Aramco’s unconventional gas programme in the kingdom.

In a stock filing, the Saudi onshore and offshore drilling company said that all ten of the new land rigs will be added to its existing fleet of 38, marking a 26% growth in the fleet.

Arabian Drilling CEO Ghassan Mirdad said: “We are delighted with Aramco’s trust in awarding Arabian Drilling these multiple contracts, providing us with the opportunity to establish our footprint in the Unconventional Programme.

“This award fits perfectly with our growth strategy execution and we have strengthened the company’s balance sheet precisely to be able to support growth capex opportunities like this one.

“We continue to see a positive outlook in the market and pursue our growth strategy in the kingdom while remaining focused on achieving the highest health, safety and environment standards across our operations.”

According to its website, by exploring unconventional gas resources, also known as tight gas or shale gas, Aramco hopes to diversify its source of energy and meet rising global and domestic demand.

The oil giant is investigating, conducting trial projects and setting up the necessary infrastructure to gain access to new unconventional reserves in regions including North Arabia, South Ghawar and Jafurah.

Unconventional gas produced by the initiative is expected to replace the equivalent of around 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bopd) at peak production, with Jafurah alone estimated to replace more than 300,000bopd.