Valaris picks up multimillion-dollar gig for warm stacked drillship

Offshore drilling contractor Valaris has won a long-term assignment for one of its floaters with an undisclosed oil and gas company in West Africa.

This two-year contract with an unnamed operator will enable the 2017-built Valaris DS-10 drillship to carry out operations off the coast of Africa after being warm stacked in Las Palmas, Spain. The rig has previously worked in Africa, as illustrated by its jobs with Shell.

Anton Dibowitz, Valaris’ President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This contract award is a testament to the safety and operational performance of Valaris DS-10 and its crews, which have an excellent track record of successfully executing clients’ well programs offshore West Africa.

“This contract increases our backlog by approximately $350 million and supports our future earnings and cash flow, and we remain focused on securing additional attractive long-term contracts for our high-specification assets.”

The mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) is expected to start work late in the second quarter or in the third quarter of 2026. The total contract value for the firm term is $352 million, and it does not include the provision of additional services.

The contract comes with two unpriced options, each with a duration of one year. Therefore, this drilling assignment may be extended further.

With a maximum drilling depth of 40,000 feet (12.19 kilometers), the Valaris DS-10 drillship is of Samsung 12000 design and can operate in water depths of 12,000 feet (3,658 meters).

Recently, one of Valaris’ rigs reached Australian waters to embark on a drilling campaign with Jadestone Energy, just weeks after another rig came to Angola last month to kick off its drilling assignment.