New York-listed offshore driller Valaris has secured new contracts and extensions, with an associated backlog of $466m added since its most recent fleet status report in May.
The largest contract came from Equinor in Brazil to utilise the drillship Valaris DS-17 for its Bacalhau project. The 540-day contract, worth around $327m, includes an upfront payment of $86m for mobilisation costs, a contribution towards reactivation costs and capital upgrades. Also in Brazil, TotalEnergies took an option on the drillship Valaris DS-15 in direct continuation of the current firm program.
In Brunei, Shell booked the heavy-duty modern jackup Valaris 115 for four years. The contract should commence in April 2023 and is valued at $159m. Shell has also extended a contract for the jackup Valaris 122 in the UK North Sea for 150 days.
In the US Gulf of Mexico, a $5m contract has been secured with an undisclosed operator for four wells, utilising the jackup Valaris 144 for 60 days, starting in the third quarter of 2022. The same rig will work for Cantium for 90 days in the fourth quarter at $80,000 per day.
Meanwhile, three deals have been sealed in Australia. GB Energy has contracted Valaris 107 jackup for a 20-day one-well program at $118,000 per day, while Woodside extended contracts for semisub Valaris DPS 1 on the Enfield plug and abandonment and Scarborough development campaigns.
“We have demonstrated our ability to successfully contract and reactivate stacked rigs while continuing to deliver the strong safety and operating performance that our customers have come to expect from us. We have now won contracts for five stacked floaters since the middle of last year, with three already on rate and the fourth expected to commence work soon, and we retain additional operating leverage to the improving market with eleven high-quality stacked rigs, including three uncontracted drillships, and options on two additional newbuild drillships,” remarked Anton Dibowitz, president and CEO of Valaris.
