Contracts and Extensions
Valaris has racked up $600m in new contracts and extensions, led by a $290m deal with BP in the Gulf of Mexico and a string of fresh drilling awards across its global fleet, pushing its total contracted backlog to around $4.8bn.
The company has won two drillship contracts since it announced a batch of new contracts in early October. The first is a two-well exploration contract with Petronas in Suriname for the Valaris DS-18 drillship.
The second is a one-well contract extension with BP offshore Egypt for the Valaris DS-12. The contract extension is expected to commence in late 2027 or early 2028, continuing the existing program, and is estimated to last 60 days. The priced extension will add approximately $25m to the contracted revenue backlog.
In the jack up department, a one-well contract was awarded to the Valaris 107 with Emperor Energy offshore Australia. The contract is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2027, continuing the rig’s existing program with another operator, and has a minimum duration of 30 days. The operating day rate is $165,000.
Another jack up to get a one-well extension is the Valaris 106 with BP in Indonesia. The contract extension is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2028 as a direct continuation of the existing program and is estimated to last 90 days. The priced extension will add approximately $10m to contracted revenue backlog. The contract has three one-well options remaining.
The extension streak continues with Valaris Norway. The jack up won a 200-day extension with Ithaca Energy in the UK North Sea, which is set to start in the second quarter of 2027. The contracted revenue backlog for the extension is approximately $27m. The contract also includes priced options with a total estimated duration of 163 days.
Ineos awarded Valaris 122 an extension for a project in the UK North Sea. The contract extension is expected to commence in July 2027, continuing the existing program, and is estimated to last 158 days. The operating day rate is $125,000. The contract includes additional options with an estimated total duration of 541 days for work in the UK and Danish North Sea.
The Valaris 248 got 61 days of additional work with Seatrium in the UK North Sea to provide accommodation support services for an offshore wind project. The contract extension commenced in October 2026 as a direct continuation of the existing program and added over $5m to the contracted revenue backlog.
The company also won a three-year service contract with BP supporting drilling operations on the Mad Dog and Thunder Horse platforms in the Gulf of America. The contract is expected to commence in January 2027 as a direct continuation of the existing service contract and adds approximately $290m to the contracted revenue backlog.
In other developments, Valaris sold the MS-1 rig for recycling, terminated the previously announced sale of the Valaris 111 jackup for recycling, and subsequently sold the rig to another buyer for conversion to a mobile offshore production unit.
All Valaris and ARO rigs operating in the Middle East remain under contract. The company won three-year contract extensions with Saudi Aramco for five ARO-owned rigs. The extensions began in October 2026 and directly continued the rigs’ previous contracts.
Since the company announced its previous fleet status report in August, it has won $600m worth of contracts. The figure also includes several deals reported by Splash in October not mentioned here.
The driller said its total contract backlog rose to around $4.8bn. The contract backlog excludes lump-sum payments such as mobilisation fees and capital reimbursements.
