State upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has awarded two deals worth $337m for the provision of mud products and mud engineering services.

The larger of the two deals, at KD62m ($217m), went to the local Kuwait Drilling Fluids & Oil Services Company. The second deal, worth KD34.35m ($120.3m), was won by Egyptian Mud Engineering & Chemicals Company.

Both contracts were signed on 21 April. The contractors will provide drilling fluid for the completion of wells at a depth of up to 22,000 feet.

KOC has awarded $440.5m-worth of contracts so far in April, taking its total for 2013 to $1.95bn. It is still $1.6bn short of the $3.58bn signed in 2012 with eight months of the year still remaining.