Rigs report: ExxonMobil to write down US$2.5Bn for delayed assets sale; Valaris wins new deals

Contracts

Drilling contractor Valaris has announced a new batch of contracts and extensions, with an associated backlog of US$1.14Bn.

The previously announced 1,064-day contract for drillship VALARIS DS-4 with Petrobras offshore Brazil is expected to start in Q4 this year. The total contract value for this deal is approximately US$519M and begins when the rig’s current deal with Petrobras ends in September.

Drillship VALARIS DS-16 inked a two-year extension with Anadarko in the US Gulf of Mexico commencing June 2024 in direct continuation of the existing firm programme.  

Equinor exercised a 60-day priced option for work offshore Brazil for drillship VALARIS DS-17. The option is expected to commence in March 2025 at a day rate of US$447,000.

VALARIS DS-8 commenced a previously disclosed three-year contract with Petrobras 31 December 2023.  

And the company has taken delivery of new drillships, DS-13 and DS-14 for an aggregate US $337M. The rigs are being mobilised from South Korea to Las Palmas, Spain, where they will be stacked until they are contracted for work.

Several jack-ups have secured more work in the UK North Sea:  VALARIS 120 sealed a three-year extension with Harbour Energy commencing Q3 202; VALARIS Stavanger will begin a 330-day project valued at US$48M for TotalEnergies in March 2024; Shell exercised two one-well priced options for VALARIS 121 with options totalling 406 days, commencing Q3 2024.

VALARIS 123 will commence a short term project for Ithaca Energy beginning in April 2024 and lasting between 45 and 72 days, while VALARIS 249 will commence a 300-day contract with an undisclosed operator offshore Trinidad sometime in Q4 2024 in direct continuation of a program with another operator. The operating day rate is US$162,500.

Eni contracted harsh environment rig VALRIS 247 on a one-well deal kicking off in Q3 2024, with a minimum duration of 45 days operating at US$180,000.

A one-well option has been exercised by an undisclosed operator offshore Trinidad for heavy-duty ultra-harsh environment jackup VALARIS 249. The one-well option will extend the firm term of the contract by a minimum of 35 days. The operating day rate for the option period is $137,500.

In conjunction with the extension for VALARIS 249, a previously disclosed one-well contract with the same operator offshore Australia for VALARIS 107 has been terminated. The terminated contract was expected to commence in Q1 2024.

Noble Drilling has scored important deals for two drillships and a jack-up. LLOG Deepwater Development Co exercised an option to extend the provisioning of the deepwater drillship Noble Valiant for drilling services in the US Gulf of Mexico. The six-month contract extension will commence in direct continuation of the upcoming contract starting in late January 2024 and will carry the rig into early 2025 operating at a day rate of US$470,000.

Another drillship, Noble Voyager will drill one well offshore Suriname for Petronas Suriname E&P. The 120-day work scope was transferred to Noble Voyager from Noble Discoverer, which was previously assigned the contract option. The contract extension is expected to commence in February at a day rate of US$470,000 and the parties have agreed to add a further one-well option to the contract. 

Wintershall Noordzee contracted the harsh environment jack-up rig Noble Resilient to plug and abandon two wells in the Danish North Sea. The contract has an estimated duration of 60 days and is expected to commence in April.  

The company said Resilient was recently involved in an incident in port where another vessel became unmoored and collided with the rig, but a plan for repairs is now in place. The rig is currently completing a scheduled special periodic survey and undergoing repairs in Frederikshavn, Denmark. 

Finally, Gulf Marine Services (GMS) announced a contract extension for one small class vessel and a new contract for another small class vessel. GMS is a provider of self-propelled and self-elevating support vessels for the offshore energy sector.

Both the extension and the new contract are for vessels in the Middle East Gulf. The client and the contract’s worth went unnamed but GMS said said the contract extension is for a total duration of 210 days. 

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