On July 22, Valaris, the world’s largest offshore drillship owner, announced that it has been awarded a multi-year contract with Equinor Energy do Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Equinor ASA (“Equinor”), for drillship VALARIS DS-17. The contract relates to work offshore Brazil on Project Raia. Equinor’s project partners are Repsol Sinpoec Brazil (35%) and Petrobras (30%).
The estimated total contract value is approximately $498 million, inclusive of MPD, additional services and fees for mobilization and minor rig upgrades. The contract has an estimated total duration of 852 days.
The contract includes a 672-day drilling program that is expected to commence in the first half of 2026.The rig will be on standby for an estimated duration of 180 days between the end of the rig’s current program and the beginning of the operating period.During the standby period, the rig may be available for work both inside and outside Brazil, which could lead to incremental revenue.
President and Chief Executive Officer Anton Dibowitz said, “We continue to execute our commercial strategy by securing new contracts at higher day rates and consistently building our backlog as evidenced by this multi-year drillship contract. We see strong customer demand for work that is expected to commence in 2025 and 2026 that will continue to support our anticipated earnings and cash flow growth over the next few years.”
The drillship “Valaris DS-17” is of GustoMSC P10000 design and was built and delivered by Hyundai Heavy Industries (now HD Hyundai Heavy Industries) in 2014, accommodating 210 people.
The drillship will be on standby for 180 days from the end of the current drilling campaign with Equinor until the start of the new contract, which is scheduled to last until June 2025, at an operating day rate of approximately $497,000.Valaris said that during this time the Valaris DS-17 could work both inside and outside Brazil. Valaris said that the Valaris DS-17 could work inside and outside of Brazil during this period.
