Valaris lands $760 million gigs for rig duo in US Gulf

July 7, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Bermuda-incorporated offshore drilling contractor Valaris Limited has won a contract extension for one drillship and a new contract for another with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental, in the Gulf of America.

Valaris-DS-18 drillship; Source: Valaris

The 940-day contract extension for drillship Valaris DS-16 is expected to start in June 2026, and a new 914-day contract for Valaris DS-18 in mid Q4 2026. Valaris said the combined addition to contracted revenue backlog for the rig pair is $760 million.

Both drillships are of GustoMSC P10,000 design, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, with the former delivered in 2014 and the latter in 2015.

Valaris’ President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Anton Dibowitz, said: “We’ve secured approximately $1.9 billion in new contract backlog so far this year, reflecting solid execution of our commercial strategy and our ability to deliver safe and efficient operations for our customers. We remain focused on securing additional attractive, long-term contracts for our high-specification assets that will further support our earnings and cash flow.”

In May, the drilling contractor reported a backlog of $4.2 billion after securing approximately $1 billion of new contracts since its previous fleet status report, increasing its backlogs from April and February.

That same month, ARO Drilling, its 50/50 joint venture with Aramco, scored contract extensions for five of its rigs.