Valaris sees early signs of drilling market recovery

Aug. 3, 2021
Valaris Ltd. has issued an update on its offshore drilling rig fleet.

Offshore staff

HAMILTON, Bermuda Valaris Ltd. has issued an update on its offshore drilling rig fleet.

TotalEnergies has awarded the drillship Valaris DS-11 an eight-well contract in the US Gulf of Mexico. The contract is expected to start in mid-2024. The estimated duration is three-and-a-half years. The contract contains early termination provisions should the project not receive a final investment decision. The rig is currently stacked in Spain.

Occidental has awarded the drillship Valaris Resolute a two-year contract in the US Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to run from May 2022 to April 2024. The rig is currently stacked in Spain.

Woodside has awarded the semisubmersible Valaris DPS-1 a 420-day contract offshore Australia. The contract is expected to start in January 2023 but is subject to the project receiving a final investment decision. The rig is currently warm stacked in Malaysia. It is expected to start a 16-well contract offshore Australia with Woodside in March 2022.

Santos has awarded the semisub Valaris MS-1 a one-month contract offshore Australia. The contract is expected to run from April 2022 to May 2022.

TotalEnergies has awarded the drillship Valaris DS-10 a one-well contract offshore Nigeria. It is expected to start in July 2021 and end in October 2021. The estimated duration is 92 days.

Shell has awarded the Valaris DS-10 a six-month contract offshore Nigeria. It is expected to run from March 2022 to September 2022.

Saudi Aramco has awarded the jackup Valaris JU-108 a one-year contract extension. The contract is now expected to end in November 2022.

Saudi Aramco has also extended the Valaris JU-141’s contract by 180 days from August 2021 to February 2022.

Repsol has awarded either the jackup Valaris Viking or Valaris Stavanger a three-well contract offshore Norway. The contract is expected to run from May 2022 to October 2022. The estimated duration is 167 days.

The jackup Valaris EXL IV’s bareboat charter agreement with ARO Drilling has been extended by 95 days from September 2021 to December 2021. ARO Drilling’s contract with Saudi Aramco has been extended for the same period.

The jackup Valaris EXL I’s bareboat charter agreement with ARO Drilling has been extended by 60 days from November 2021 to December 2021. ARO Drilling’s contract with Saudi Aramco has been extended for the same period.

Saudi Aramco has awarded ARO Drilling’s jackups Scooter Yeargain and Hank Boswell 90-day contract extensions from October 2021 to December 2021.

In addition, the drilling contractor revealed in its 2Q results that it has received more than 20 new contracts or extensions totaling more than $1.3 billion of backlog.

President and CEO Tom Burke said: “We are beginning to see early signs of a recovery in customer demand following the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, evidenced by our contracting activity over the past few months.

“As a result, Valaris is well-positioned to benefit from the opportunities we see in the market today. We will continue to focus on winning work for our active fleet and returning some of our high-quality stacked rigs to work as suitable opportunities arise.”

08/03/2021