Valaris, the world’s largest offshore driller, announced a series of offshore charter contracts, increasing its backlog value to approximately US$4.2 billion.
Specifically, US energy giant ExxonMobil has announced that it has exercised a six-month pricing option on the Valaris DS-9 drillship, which will start construction in January 2026 and directly continue the existing fixed project. ExxonMobil will start leasing the drillship in 2022.
The Valaris DS-9 drillship is currently operating in waters near Cyprus, but is expected to return to its original work destination near Angola in the third quarter of 2025. Built by Samsung Heavy Industries and delivered in 2015, the drillship adopts the Samsung 78K design, can accommodate 200 people, can operate in water depths of 12,000 feet, and has a maximum drilling depth of 40,000 feet.
Valaris’ jack-up rig “Valaris 117” has signed a 545-day charter contract with an undisclosed operator, including a 185-day pricing option, and is expected to start in the third quarter of 2026. According to the company’s fleet status report, the operating day rate is in line with recent market rates in the region. The rig was built in 2009 and is currently serving energy developer Eni offshore Mexico and is expected to continue until January 2026.
Valaris’ jack-up rig, the Valaris 248, has signed a 730-day charter contract with an undisclosed client for operations in the North Sea, which are expected to begin in November 2025 again.
In addition, five jack-up drilling rigs, Valaris 116, Valaris 140, Valaris 141, Valaris 146 and Valaris 250, under contract with ARO Drilling have been renewed for five years for bareboat charter operations in waters off Saudi Arabia.
The renewal agreements for Valaris 116, 140, 146 and 250 will take effect from May 2025, while Valaris 141 will take effect from August 2025, directly extending the existing lease. From October 2025 to March 2026, Valaris 116 and 250 are expected to be shut down for approximately six months each to complete special periodic inspections and recertification of major equipment. The relevant downtime period is included in the charter period of each drilling rig.
Valaris previously announced that the Valaris DPS-3, DPS-5 and DPS-6 semi-submersible drilling rigs would be repurposed for other uses outside the drilling field or dismantled. Valaris revealed that the company has sold the three semi-submersible drilling rigs for a total of approximately $10 million.
Together with several contracts already reported in the last Fleet Status Report published in February this year, the backlog of new and renewal contracts is approximately $1 billion. The backlog therefore increases from approximately $3.6 billion on February 18, 2025 to approximately $4.2 billion.